Happy New Year Everybody!
Yes, it is that time of the year and we must engage in certain routines even if they will last, at best, 2 weeks. Food resolutions. If you have been reading this column for at least a few years, you will know that I do not make food resolutions or New Year resolutions. I believe that every moment of every day is an opportunity to change or resolve something about various aspects of our lives, whether personal or professional. Having said that, I know that for many people, engaging in the process of determining resolutions is important to the structure and organization of their lives, and a timely reminder.
Here are 10 food resolutions that are worthy of your time and effort.
1. Learn to cook or bake something that intimidates you or that you have always wanted to try. This past Christmas, a friend who is a prolific baker, made, for the first time, our style of plait bread, the one with the band of dough in the middle stretching from one end to the other. She said she was always intimidated by baking bread and the plait bread in particular seemed outside of her skill set. She was concerned about not getting the texture of the bread right (soft) and the actual braiding. She got hold of a recipe and watched some videos on braiding dough. The outcome was a tremendous success. She said, “Don’t know why plait bread used to intimidate me. It is so easy.” Don’t let fear stop you from trying.
2. Enjoy your meals. Put down the cellphone. Turn off the television, tablet, or laptop. Taste what you are eating, you may remember why you love that particular dish so much. Long before mindful eating became a thing, we used to practice it – we’d give the food our full attention in the moment without external distractions. As you eat, pay attention to your hunger cues, are you filled/satisfied? Or are you continuing to eat out of habit? Who knows, this approach may help you lose a couple of pounds without you even realizing it.
3. Cook at least twice a week. For many of us it is not possible to cook daily, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is time. However, we owe it to ourselves and all that we are working hard for, to have good home-cooked meals that we make the time to make. And on each occasion, we can cook enough that we can eat it twice, thereby giving us 4 home-cooked meals a week. The more we do this, we realize the value, importance, and responsibility of nutritionally feeding ourselves.
4. Read labels. There are certain foods that people swear by in their efforts to eat healthy, particularly certain canned seafoods, however, take the time to read the labels. Canned foods like tuna and sardines come in all sorts of flavours these days, it is not simply a choice of water or oil. Check the labels of the flavoured cans as they contain a lot of sugar and sodium, significantly more than their unflavoured counterparts.
5. Make it a habit to drink homemade fruit drink(s). Many people have lost or do not know of the actual taste of certain fruits and citrus. That’s a shame. We live in a part of the world where there is an untold variety of fruits that those outside of the region consider exotic. Our supermarket shelves are lined with imported canned and carton fruit juices carrying labels of fruits with which we are familiar. But when we taste them, they are like coloured sugar water with an artificial, synthetic taste. We have had a long held tradition, at least on the weekends, where our meals were accompanied by the homemade beverages of whatever fruits were in season. There are certain things that we need to get back to basics.
6. Buy and eat seasonal. It is a fact that the climate affects our crops – flooding, unseasonal rain, drought etc. As a result of this, even when in season, certain things can be expensive because of demand and supply. However, resolve to develop a holistic approach to your buying and consumption. Seasonal eating offers us food at the peak of nutrition and when in abundance, we save something on the price we pay. Finally, we can also think of ways to preserve the bounty of the season. For example, tomatoes can be stewed, roasted, blended, be made into sauces, or dried, for use all year round.
7. Buy and eat local. Regional governments are complaining about the high food importation bill, yet their talk of measurements to curtail this seems to be more lip service than action. While they talk, let’s try on a micro level to do whatever we can to grow, buy, eat local and support all our local farmers, all involved in animal husbandry, fisherfolk, food and drink artisans. Here is me throwing some shade – stop buying imported plantain chips!
8. Shop at the market. For fruits, vegetables, seafood, and meats, all local, shop at the market; any of the many markets we have, regardless of where you are in the region. Save the supermarket for non-perishables, toiletries and a few dairy items that are not suitable for hot open-air conditions. Jeez, you can even drive through or by some of the markets and get your produce without stepping a foot out of your vehicle, even if the human interaction and lil exercise might do you good. This is another very real way in which you can support buying and eating local.
9. Do not scorn or disrespect someone else’s food/cuisine. Don’t let your unfamiliarity, or quite frankly, ignorance, cause you to embarrass yourself with ill-thought expressions. The way you know of or about something is not the only way. Don’t think that I am talking here exclusively of a foreign cuisine, this sort of irreverence takes place among ourselves. Stop it. Educate yourself, you just might learn something invaluable.
10. Actively work and seek out ways to keep our local food culture and food heritage alive and relevant. As the country continues to grow and the food scene expands, we can easily find ourselves lost. Embrace the new and exciting offerings yes, but do not forget or neglect your own. There are hard fought battles, countless trials, and errors, and a rich, complicated history that gave birth to our nation and all that we hold dear.
All the very best for 2023!
Cynthia
