When I was very
young I and several relatives, including my Grandma Clara, lived together in a
small apartment. I loved to watch her
cooking. I remember the large copper
kettle in which she cooked soups, and the special skillet in which she fried
dozens of delicate blintz shells. To
this day I love the smell of onions frying.
I can’t remember Grandma cooking with any canned or frozen food. That changed with my mother, for whom canned
peaches and store-bought pies sufficed for desserts, and canned soups and
vegetables were side dishes at dinner. We didn’t consider the importance of
whole foods then, although my father, a pharmacist, warned us to avoid bleached
white flour and sugar. Years later, when
he became severely ill from clogged arteries, he cut out saturated fats from meat
and dairy and solid (hydrogenated) fat from shortening. His color turned from sickly yellow to
healthy pink, and his cholesterol went down over a hundred points. He regained health.
I learned to cook
by trial and error after I married. My
first heroic feat was to return to the supermarket a package of chicken that
smelled bad. The only useful cooking
skill I had then was how to make a white sauce.
Thank you, high school home economics class. Since my awkward beginnings with processing food
I have discovered wonderful new (to me) foods.
I have imitated Grandma a little bit and come to use more whole foods,
even growing some in our garden. They
taste good, and I feel good eating them.
I hope to keep on discovering the joy of whole, healthy food. You can too.
I continue to enjoy and to share healthy food facts and cooking in my home community in Cocoa, Florida. I am fortunate to have a husband who is great at making salads. I also give thanks to my children and grandchildren who are great critics and tasters. I hope everyone will be able to take part in making food that delights and benefits them. For more information I invite you to read the blog and other posts at my website www.judykidsfoodie.com.