Ital is Vital: Jamaican-Style Coconut Bean Stew
Mon, this stew make me feel irie. Yummy, creamy and filling, it's a great main course served with rice. Ital food is rasta, designed to increase health and vitality (what is called livity) through avoidance of "dead" (animal) food.Feel free to use whatever beans and veggies you have on hand. Don't have plantains? No problem. Try sweet potatoes, peppers, cabbage, and other types of beans. Leftovers also make awesome patties (see pie crust recipe here).Depending upon whether you ...
Yellow Indian Woman Herb Bean Dip
Yellow Indian Woman beans, from Rancho Gordo, sound earth-centered and soulful somehow. Truthfully, you can probably substitute any flavorful beans and enjoy a tasty dip but the name alone makes this recipe seem way more exotic. This bean was originally grown by Native Americans -- likely by women -- in Montana.Beans are a wonderful source of nutritious deliciousness, and heirlooms bridge us to the past. In fact, a bean thought to be left by the Anasazi Indians was found in a cave in New ...
Should Aliens Keep Humans in Crates for Their Juicy Meat?
There is sooo much talk these days about aliens, it's clearly time to go beyond the standard they-are-taking-over the-planet meme (or have already taken it over, depending on who you ask).Let's get to the nitty-gritty details, like what aliens eat. All species eat, right? If they do, we can only hope it's not us, but it certainly could be. Imagine human gestation crates, just like the ones pregnant pork pigs (who are kept pregnant/caged their entire lives - fun, we're sure) "live" ...
Sam Harris — Meat and Ethical Eating
Sam Harris, described as a neuroscientist, author and "public intellectual" (what's that?), is well-known for his views on religion (in a nutshell, he thinks it's bunk) and the need for more reason in our society.What you may not know, however, is that this uber-rationalist (he heads up Project Reason, dedicated to scientific and secular knowledge) gets it when it comes to meat. As he says, he cannot defend the ethics of eating animals (even if he eats them). Animals suffer and we are ...
Really Wanting It: Cravings, Desire and Satisfaction
Lots of folks explain to us that the idea of waking up to a better way of eating sounds great. After all, who wouldn't want to enjoy eating fully and be healthy? If it's easy, even better. But, alas, they suffer from cravings that urge them far, far away from that path.Next thing they know, they're stuffing themselves with chips and doughnuts or whatever the problem food might be. Then, they tell us, they feel awful -- sorry, sick and sad. And they don't know what to do, how to break ...
Cooking Karma: Why Our Eating Habits Can Leave Us Empty
In today's New York Times, the king of the food literati, Michael Pollan, presents, "Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch," a tale of how (and a bit of why) Americans barely cook these days and what it could mean for our future. The best part of the piece, for us anyway, was the guy who got right to the point. According to Harry Balzer, a leading food industry analyst, the real reason we have a national eating problem is "Because we're basically cheap and lazy." He adds, "Besides, the ...
Feeding Fear: How Not To Eat It
... With an almost insatiable appetite, fear eats at us, and the more we feed it, the hungrier it seems to get. Its impact upon our bodies, minds and spirits is unmistakable, whether it's the fluttering pit in the stomach, the paranoia and uncertainty (aka FUD) in our actions, or feelings of spiritual despair. As we often seek to remind our dear readers, we are what we eat. Now, we know that there's plenty of scary stuff going on. Lordy, lordy... we've seen it ourselves. Wars, ...
Grow Your Own: Self Sufficiency for Everyone
... We love homegrown. Why? Because we know where it comes from. As we often repeat, CONSIDER THE SOURCE.Well, today it was announced that an organic food garden will be planted on the White House grounds, with the food to be eaten by the Obamas and served at official events. Not only annuals (tomatoes, lettuce, etc.) but also blueberry & raspberry bushes and rhubarb - plants that keep on giving). Very cool.We think everyone should grow their own, no matter how small a part of ...
Green Food: More Than Popeye Imagined
We all know that greens are good for us. Popeye had spinach, George Bush the Elder had broccoli (ok, it was his nemesis, but that's another story). Hopefully, most of us who have opened our eyes to the role of food in our lives now eat and enjoy lots of greens in lots of delicious ways (kale and potato soup, spinach with garlic, tatsoi salad, etc).Now, there’s a new type of green – the eco-friendly type – that is all the rage now that the world seems to be unraveling at the seams: ...
