Food (f)or thought: The musings of a committed vegetarian

Is what you think, more important than what you eat? My friend Gosia (Malgorzata) asked me recently, and honestly, I didn’t know how to answer straight off. I mean, what I think in fact dictates much of what I eat, so it almost becomes a defunct question doesn’t it? And my body, though not neglected, is hardly a temple is it? Gosia demurred, instead explaining that “as a mother of two little girls I try to be quite conscious as to what I put on our table every single day, so that my children can thrive in every possible way. A nutritious diet is essential to their young, growing bodies, however, it’s becoming more and more difficult to environmentally sustain, and in terms of natural good health justify, that simple act of motherly love, cooking for your family.” Young, pretty, and trendy(ish), Gosia cares about what she eats, not only for the sake of her and her family’s health, but because she feels the vegetarian options are more environmentally sustainable. She fashionably follows several food bloggers, nutritionists, and lifestyle platforms, but tends to feel ‘bombarded’ with what is good, and bad, for the body and mind. She admits too, to her own ‘food frailties,’ as she is a vegetarian, who would love to go the ‘full monty’ and commit to veganism, but still finds “the odd Margareta pizza irresistible.” She continued, “It’s probably because of the genetically-modified food debate, and the environmental responsibility I feel, that I can no longer trust the carrot pulled fresh from the soil, the apple plucked from the tree, or the peas shelled from the pod. The thought of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides in and on what we eat, growth enhancers and growth inhibitors, have all made me question the food I buy, even if it’s labeled organic. How bad is that?” We branch out into the eternal ‘health’ debate surrounding cancer, with the inevitable observation that some people can be chain-smokers for decades yet live for 90 years, while others, on stringent exercise regimes and healthy diets, succumb relatively early to the effects of any number of cancers. Just a few months after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, 200 Russians returned to their farms inside the 30km exclusion zone, and today, more than 30 years later, after having maintained self-sufficiency growing their own crops and vegetables, they enjoy comparable lifestyles with those living all across the wider nation, with no serious disease or radiation sickness reported. How is that? Why is that? Does the power of positive thought or a simple but unshakeable positivity actually make some people almost invincible? Is being healthy itself mostly a state of mind? Is the ability to thumb your nose, to tilt at the windmills of adversity the key to winning this battle for a healthy body and mind? As a result Gosia wonders if this generation has been cynically deprived of the joy and delight of the impetuous snatching of forbidden fruits (and vegetables), that were almost a rite of passage of earlier generations, and mulls too over whether our stolen peace of mind can ever be fully restored. She wonders aloud, while eventually breaking into a smile born of true gastronomic delight, “will I ever again know the joy, pleasure, and satisfaction of, instead of a bowl stuffed with avocados and chia seeds, slowly simmered in home-made almond milk? I could actually do waffles (Oh, rest my beating heart!) for breakfast, with maple syrup (Yum!) or cream (Oh…. my….!), every day, with no guilt?” Adamant that she is not trying to find excuses for eating unhealthy food, she appears genuinely amazed, or is it confused, by the complexities of our world, our minds and our bodies, and as an articulate, intelligent, well-educated individual, she has reasoned out her response to this conundrum facing not only her, but mums, mothers, cooks, chefs, wannabees and lifestylers all over the world. Gosia says her conscious choice is that whatever her fears, reservations and hesitancies, “I want joy and laughter around our dining table, and as long as they are the essential contributors to our dining experiences, to our meals, I believe we will be ‘shielded’ by that positivity and that joy.” And to the question again……. I think, having had time to think about it, what I think while I eat is important, and how much I enjoy not only the food, but those around me definitely adds to the experience. A little conversation, a touch of laughter, and shared experience, then maybe, in a chicken and egg sort of scenario, it truly will be food for thought, rather than food, or thought!