Good discussion, Bear and Janet! So true about soil health!
Many of my nieces, nephews and younger friends are vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarians. It seems to be much more common and mainstream with younger generations than it is of ours. Our nephew (now 30 y/o) has never eaten meat (his parents aren’t vegetarians), although he believes pescatarian eating to be the healthiest. A lot of people in India are vegetarian, and the Japanese culture is traditionally, primarily pescatarian. There’s a group of Seventh Day Adventists (vegetarian) in Southern California thought to be the healthiest (longevity, reduced chronic diseases) group in the US. Their beliefs are that humankind has “stewardship over the planet and every creature (animals),” rather than dominion.
For myself, I try to think of it as a healthy, sustainable way of eating, and what works for me. I feel super fortunate to live where there is access to year-round organic produce through local grocery stores and farmers’ markets.
My main thing is staying inspired as I cook for myself and my husband, and using new recipes. I need Mrs. Bear to cook for me! :-) Plus, she sounds all-around amazing! I do love to cook though, and make a lot of Asian, Indian, Mediterranean, California dishes - heavy on the veggies. I also mix-up vegetarian with meat, it’s just a matter of proportions.
This morning I made a soup that was crazy good! It was black-bean cauliflower soup using homemade chicken stock, spiked with homemade peanut ginger-garlic sauce. It was made on the fly from leftovers. (The peanut sauce was leftover from using on a kale salad). OMG! Healthy and tasty. I made a tofu scramble with 50 percent shredded zucchini and 50 percent tofu, and made it like scramble eggs, with lots of garlic and herbs. It was great.
What are some of your favorite healthy dishes?
There’s a push to eat more sustainably locally too, through foraged foods. Like Nobu in Copenhagen. We have a local park that has wild Chantrelle mushrooms that cascade down the hillside for as far as the eye can see. It’s crazy cool. I have never wild-picked shrooms before (except for that one time in college!:-) but a Native American friend invited me along for a hike once to go foraging. It sounded really fun. When I first went to Southern California I was astounded by the oranges, lemons, limes, avocados...it was like paradise to me.
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