an extinct diet making a comeback

Beau and I have been volunteering at a community supported kitchen in Berkeley to get us out of the house while neither one of us is working. I would not exactly say the work is rewarding since we mostly chop and prep food to be cooked for the next day, so we don't see the finished product, but it is good times anyway. I think the most fun part of the whole experience is meeting such diverse and interesting people! Some of the people absolutely crack me up and have me asking myself, "Am I the only normal one here? Or is it the other way around?"

Something fascinating to me about this kitchen is the food that they cook. Everything is based on the studies of Weston A. Price. If you are not familiar with this man, I only know some vague details. Weston A. Price was a dentist who noticed the decline in tooth health in America and traveled the world looking for people with healthy teeth and studying their diet to see what they do differently than what we do. Not suprisingly, the people with almost no tooth problems were indigenous tribes and small "uncivilized" cultures. I think calling these people uncivilized is really not fair since they lived modest and happy lives and had little to no disease. We are civilized and look at us! Fat, unhappy, working our whole lives and not very healthy at all. Okay, I am being a little harsh, but you get the idea. So anyway, he travels the world studying all of these diets and finds all of these fascinating parallels between the different tribes all over the world. Certain things were the same no matter where he went. Obviously, no processed foods and no abuse of sugar, they ate a lot of organ meats and not a lot of muscle meat, and fermented foods were a regular part of the diet. They ate locally because, duh, they had to; and they ate food in season. There is a lot more but I don't have the time or the memory to write it all down. If you are interested, his studies can be found at westonaprice.org and it is really worth taking the time to read; if only to get another look at nutrition and maybe rethink what you think is healthy. His ideas are dismissed by some scientists for the ridiculous reason that they can't go and "double-check" his findings since all of the indigenous tribes have been wiped out by the rest of civilization. That is why his findings are so fascinating to me though, is that he was able to see how these traditional people ate and lived before they went extinct! And if you think about it, humans are really just animals; and maybe it isn't such a good idea to have all this "civilized" stuff because we forget our basic animal needs.

I am not exactly condoning a strict Weston A. price diet. People seem to forget when they read these studies that yes, that is what the people ate, but they also had to hunt down their food and live very physically strenuous lives. We tend to be very sedentary in this day and age and we just don't require the same amount of calories and fats to survive. I doubt any of us burn enough calories to be equivalent to that of a person who is hunting his dinner then skinning and cutting and cooking it. I happen to be in the camp of, no matter what you read about diets and nutrition, as long as you are listening to your body, eating locally and seasonally (doeasn't that also equal "fresh"?) and not being a total glutten that you are probably doing just fine. No diets needed! But it is still fun to read about them. Well for people like me it is, who also read cookbooks from cover to cover and drool over cooking magazines.

If you do read Mr. Price's studies and are interested in cooking some more food along his guidelines like this place I volunteer at does, I would recommend the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. It is full of Weston A Price inspired recipes and little blurbs on health and is quite easy to follow! I have a copy and I love the fermented beverage section and some of her meat recipes, although you question them at first, are delicious!

...

Liver and Onions
(gag right? But after reading some of Weston A Price you might want to become more friendly with the funky little organ meat. According to him, it holds tremendous health benefits and is recommended to eat a couple a times a week, especially for pregnant women.)

• 1 pound beef liver
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1/4 cup butter, tallow, or other fat
  
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings
• 1 cup flour, (any will do: spelt, rice, arrowroot)
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse liver slices under cold water, cut liver into strips, and place in a medium bowl. Cover with milk in bowl. Soak from 30 minutes to overnight - whatever you can.
   
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter or other fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Separate onion rings, and saute them in butter until soft. Remove onions, and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and put it in a shallow dish or on a plate. Drain milk from liver, and coat slices in the flour mixture.
3. When the fat is hot, place the coated liver slices in the pan. Cook until nice and brown on the bottom - about 30 seconds. Turn, and cook on the other side until browned. Add onions, and reduce heat to medium. Cook a bit longer to taste.
   

Serve with raw sauerkraut.

One thing that is also really fun about the kitchen we volunteer in is that every time a recipe calls for fat or butter, they always use chicken fat! Sounds fattening? Well get over it, it is SO tasty and they seem to think it is also good for you and I think my shiny hair and glowing skin will agree.