What’s the difference between a salad and a bowl? It’s a question I ponder every time I order a bowl, and ask the server, “Instead of the rice, would you mind using salad greens as a base?” One of my (many) pet peeves is a restaurant bowl that’s 75% white rice — I toss/waste most of it. Which begs the question: if I order a bowl and ask for it to be made with lettuce, does it become a salad? Or is it still a bowl? Perhaps a salad bowl?
Astute readers of Good News Veg will be surprised to learn that my favorite Boston-area restaurant, Season to Taste, is not plant-based. Though chef-owner Robert Harris creates a fresh, local farm-centric menu each season, it’s laden with food I will not eat. Food I spend a good part of my life trying to convince others to cut back on — for health, for the environment, and for the animals. And yet. Unlike most gifted chefs, Harris puts as much thought and skill into the few plant-based items on his menu as he does on Crispy Fried Chicken and Ham-Wrapped Scallops. And for that I say, Thank-you, Chef!
We’d been warned.
Red flag #1: When I told my Greek neighbor that my husband and I were off to Mykonos, she asked, wide-eyed, “Why in the world are two going there? It’s a party island!“
Red flag #2: When I Googled, “What to do on Mykonos,” Tripadvisor suggested, Private Instagram Tour of Mykonos, promising “enviable Instagram posts,” and 4 Hour Day Party at Beach Clubs, a “swimwear party, next to the sea, in private beds-loungers, with champagne, dance rhythms, and incredible cocktails!! Want it? You got it!“
Legumes are a Dietary Fountain of Youth, the most important dietary predictor of human longevity. Yet, many of us don’t eat them frequently enough. Why? The answer lies in this rhyme I chanted as a kid:
Beans, beans, are good for your heart, the more you eat, the more you fart….
Yep, the #1 reason people give for not eating beans is, “fear of farts.” Really. The benefits of legumes far outweigh their costs. Learn why, and how to enjoy them.
White potatoes are one of those foods that nutritionists and food magazines flip-flop over. Are they good for you, or not? Do they make you fat, fill you up, or both? Should you forgo them forever and simply fall in love, monogamously, with their distant cousin, the sweet potato?
Bowls are my go-to food when I eat lunch in a restaurant. Yet, I rarely make them at home. They’ve always seemed like too much trouble: Each part — grain, veggies, dressing — takes time to prepare, time I’m not willing to spend mid-day. But a meal I had last week changed my attitude.
In survey after survey, when asked, “why don’t you eat more plant-based meals?” respondents say, “my family/spouse wouldn’t stand for it.” I get it. I’m married to a VEGAN who isn’t wild about vegetables. Okay, that may be an overstatement. Since he’s likely to be reading this, I’ll cut the hyperbole: I’m married to a vegan who does not like most raw vegetables (with the exception of celery), and the only form of kale he likes is crispy kale chips.
Thankfully, there are creative ways to sneak nutritious veggies into meals. Because no matter where you land on the eating spectrum — omnivore, pescatarian, vegetarian, plant-based — it’s always a good idea to add more plant-based nutrients to your diet. Here are some of my favorites.
Do you crave sugar when you’re exhausted? I do. And I’m not alone.
There’s a physiological reason: When we’re tired, our “hunger hormone,” ghrelin, increases, making us feel hungrier, and our “fullness hormone, “leptin,” decreases, making us feel less satisfied when we eat. Making matters worse, exhaustion triggers our bodies to our crave quick sources of energy, typically in the form of carbs and sugar.
Which is why, as a not-very-good sleeper who is often exhausted, I rarely keep cake and cookies in my house.
This has been one of the ickiest winters ever on the East Coast. Snow, rain, below-freezing temperatures, ice, slush. Repeat. It’s weather that calls for warming soups, stews, and pasta. Those of us who try to eat locally grown food are up to our ears in root vegetables … and searching for new ways to prepare them.
Why should we be eating more root vegetables? And how do we make them delicious?
