Compelling reading

French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, Why The Chinese Don’t Count Calories by Lorraine Clissold and Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

It’s been Uni holidays for about a month now; this means I have a lot more time on my hands but I haven’t found myself getting bored.  I’ve been catching up on movies, working, cooking of course (although I’ve been fairly lazy about taking photos blogging – must re-motivate!) planning Christmas (!!!) and reading. 

I’d say that I’m quite passionate about food; I think about it a lot. I’m either eating it, reading about it, looking at photos of it, taking photos of it, browsing (or should I say fantasising in) kitchen and homeware stores. In fact I’ve often barely finished a meal before I find myself thinking about the next.  Honestly, I started planning our Christmas breakfast in November – case in point (I’m planning on creating a Vegan Christmas menu – so stay tuned!).  So rather unsurprisingly, my summer reading list has consisted of books about eating. 

While they both sound like dieting books, Why French Women Don’t Get Fat & Why Chinese Don’t Count Calories are definitely not.  Instead, they are two different cultural perspectives to approaching and thinking about food and eating.  You may think also that they would be completely at ends with each other considering their cultures are so different.  Yet I found most of the key ideals resounded in both books, ideals which are important not just in omnivorous diets but also (and some would argue more importantly) in a vegan or vegetarian diet, like eating wholesome, satisfying and varied foods. 

Here are some of my other favourites:

• Strive to have the freshest ingredients – best achieved by doing frequent little shops throughout the week and by favouring markets. This ensures not only that your ingredients are fresh but markets are also generally cheaper than supermarkets. Likewise, many markets have a larger variety of organic produce to choose from.
• Only eat produce that is in season – this resonates with recent environmental efforts to reduce transport emissions and support local farmers.  The French also believe that by limiting a foods availability one’s appreciation for it will increase.
• Avoid processed foods – this has been advocated by health professionals recently but the Chinese believe that the intrinsic energy of food is removed during processing and with it the benefits it naturally contains.
• Make meals and eating an event – this pretty much means that diner in front of TV is out.  Both the French and Chinese encourage mindful eating which means really taking time to appreciate and savour food. Modern science has found this to be helpful with digesting and reducing appetite.  I personally think it’s quite romantic, taking the time at diner to set the table, everyone sitting down together, a delicious (hopefully) meal which everyone shares their day over. Eating is important and why should a nicely set table be a luxury or for ‘fancy’ occasions?  Perhaps it will create a little more washing up, but I’d say your elevated mood will more than make up for it.

I would definitely recommend reading these books for anyone who is interested in eating and food (they both also include traditional recipes!) or someone who is looking to create a healthier lifestyle. 

Finally, I’m currently reading Eating Animals (which is definitely more Vegan-y) by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I’m not yet finished reading so I’ll leave a detailed summary till then, but I’ll just say now that this book is very compelling reading.  Foer has explored and reported on the American meat and dairy industries quite objectively.  He also discusses the issues, tensions and conflictions faced by omnivores as well as vegans and vegetarians.  Even before finishing I’ve finished reading the book I recommended to anyone, even meat eaters (or perhaps especially).