Talkin' 'bout a (whole food) revolution

I recently read two books by journalist/food guru Michael Pollan: The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Dilemma reads as a pretty scathing indictment of the industrial food industry in the U.S., while In Defense of Food discusses what it might look like for an individual or family to more or less opt out of eating diets high in processed food and low in whole foods--like vegetables, grains, meats, etc.

We have long tried our best to eat healthful foods, to buy locally when feasible, and to "shop the periphery" of the grocery stores where most of the whole foods are kept. So most of what Pollan discussed really resonated with me.

But one thing we have consciously tried to do since I finished In Defense of Food is to make our meals more of a celebration. When we take the time to carefully prepare, serve, and eat our food, we tend to appreciate and value our food more. So what does this look like for us? Lately, it's primarily meant that we 1)prepare complete meals without using processed foods; 2)have stopped serving the food to ourselves in the dishes we cooked the food in. Yes, friends: no pots and pans on the table. This has made for more dishes after dinner, but when we started treating ourselves the same way we treat our company, I really think we started to value our food more--and our meals are much more relaxed.

So that's the start of our whole food revolution. Huzzah!