My... what? "Food Philosophy" sounds so stuffy and snooty. It's more like what I think is most important about food and cooking in general. What I believe is crucial to remember when we are cooking, and what I love most about food and food culture.
Ok, so I've talked enough about my food philosophy. Here is what I think about my own food philosophy:
"I think that food is best shared with everyone, and inclusivity when eating brings unity and friendship to the table. To eat healthy is to focus on eating balanced, whole foods, and noticing what your body needs right then, and it is important to use local and fair trade ingredients to support other people's lives and jobs."
Basically, I think that everyone should be able to try new things, and enjoy the food they eat. For me, when I go out and notice something that I think would taste good but I can't eat, I try to come p with a way I can make it so that I can have it. Sometimes it turns out but it's not quite the same, sometimes it really doesn't taste good at all, but sometimes I hit a gold mine and stumble across a new favourite food for myself and my family. Seeing other people inspires me and helps me come up with new ideas and adaptations. I focus on thinking of ways I can eat things, instead of concentrating on what I can't eat, and I think that is a huge reason I am in the kitchen so much.
So, I have made something that I think encompasses my food philosophy pretty well. I do think that basically all of the things I make display my food philosophy, because I try to make things that many people can eat and that use whole, healthy foods. Anyway, I made chocolate ice cream! Yeah, not what most people think to be a healthy food, but oh well.
Yes, I froze it in ice cube trays. It freezes faster, and it also thaws faster so its not a rock when I want to eat it.
So, my ice cream has only four ingredients: egg yolks, cream, cocoa powder, and honey.
Yup, no refined sugar. My house does not have any refined sugar. No white sugar, no brown sugar, nothing like that. We have molasses, maple syrup, and honey, but no refined sugar. In my whole life, I can only remember two times when we had refined sugar in the house, and it was brown sugar, and we used it for gifts of food for other people. Yeah. I know, we are not exactly the typical house. We also basically never have flour, milk, or butter. What most people would call staples - they don't exist in our kitchen.
Our cocoa powder is fair trade. We don't always buy fair trade foods, but we do often buy fair trade cocoa powder. I think that we, because we have so much opportunity, we should try to buy ingredients that help other people. What so many people go through so that we can eat our foods is awful. Especially for chocolate, many cocoa farm workers toil under terrible circumstances. If we have the choice between fair trade and regular cocoa, I think we should generally choose the item that supports fair farms an helps workers improve their lives.
Ice cream with dairy and eggs - not exactly what most people would consider allergy friendly. But, this recipe is actually so different from store-bought! Only fancy ice cream companies, no normal ones like the ones you buy in an ice cream pail, don't have corn in them! Crazy. Most people wouldn't think of corn when they see ice cream, but it's actually so full of it. Fructose, glucose, maltodextrin, dextrose - many ice creams have corn in multiple ways, under multiple names! Also, there is no wheat or gluten. No brownie bits, or crumbled Oreos, or waffle cones. So yeah, this recipe is actually quite accommodating, just not necessarily a good idea for those with issues with dairy or egg.
I think that when you use less ingredients, it is easier to trace where they are from, and you usually avoid using a lot of preservatives or fake stuff in your food. We have so much food, why are we using fake food? I used eggs bought from the market across the street from my house, where they have their chickens in the back and we can see them sqwalking (is that a word?) about in the yard, so we know they are not cooped up inside or being poorly treated. I think that it is important to be supporting our local farmers, and buying foods that come from places we know and trust. By supporting people who "do it right" in the farming and food world, we show that we care about our food and where it comes from, and it hinders the abilities and profits gained by those who treat their animals poorly.
When you try new things, you support other people and their cultures and eating habits. And, who know, you might just find a new favourite food! I find that sometimes I am just in the mood for "something new." I just want to try something different just to get out of the typical eating rut, and discover a new ingredient or style. For me, I had never made homemade ice cream before. I had bought it plenty of times :), but I had never made it myself. It was something new I could do, and I could control what I put into it, and how much I put in.
Basically, that's what I think is most important about food and our eating styles - my food philosophy!
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