Shrimp curry!

I've had a bit of a hiatus from blogging, but I'm back with a lot of stuff to post, as over the past few months I have been cooking and baking and reading lots!

To start, I thought I'd post a recipe given to me by my friend Tara at Eat, be and see. By teegee.
She cooks some pretty darn good Indian stuff, and when she told me all about her shrimp pineapple curry, I knew I just had to make it.

I bought some fresh shrimp (prawns) from the farmers market, but was running out of time to use it, and I didn't have all the ingredients, so I left out the pineapple, curry leaves, asafoetida and cilantro. It was still pretty damn delicious though...I cant wait to try it with everything, to make it that little bit more mouthgasmic. :D

Served with fluffy basmati rice

Sammich

Feast your eyes on this! That is a "sandwich" made of fat bread (i.e bread whose calories come mostly from fat - the good kind in macadamia nuts, coconut oil and egg yolks), with some lamb salami I picked up from a music festival of all places, and raw cheddar cheese from the farm me and my mum visit. Put together, it created this sandwich of awesomeness. Actually tasted like it looks. Even better in fact!

The 'bread' recipe comes from Richard Nikoley at Freetheanimal. I made it exactly as is. Genius. Pure genius.

Don't forget a thick layer of butter!

Other sandwich ideas I'm planning on trying - chicken salad, BLT, beef/horseradish... :)

Seriously, go make it now!

"There is no death, only a change of worlds" (Duwamish)

After a long hiatus (where I was in the US for a month), I am finally back in London, ready to blog more!
There were many experiences I'd like to share here , but if I had to limit it, I'd limit it to the animal slaughter I was present at, as it was something I particularly wanted to share, and also something that will especially be appreciated by real foodies.

So a neighbour farm to where I was volunteering were slaughtering two of their lambs one day, and I, along with a few others also at the farm decided to head over to witness it. It was a hot sunny day like any other, and about 15 or so of us were in a grassy field surrounded by trees. The lamb was led to a pen where it was lain on it's back by Augustine, "the guy with the knife", who was to make the cut (sheep get really docile when on their backs).  Augustine was the perfect person for the job, he was clearly an animal lover, but also one who realized this was a part of the circle of life...humans eat meat, and therefore animals must die. And when we die, our bodies are recycled back into the earth which nourishes the grass which nourishes the herbivores that we eat. This cycle is part of a much larger cycle that is essential to our ecosystem and Mother Earth. And whatever qualms one might have with killing animals, etc, this is a fact which cannot be denied. Before being cut, the animal was thanked for the sustenance it was to provide. After sharing the experience, my friend Mike made this comment which I thought was insightful and beautifully said :

"It reminds me of the ritual that was performed whenever a Native American would take one of its brothers or sisters of the wild to feed his tribe. He would place his hand on the animal as it was on its way out and lovingly say something along the lines of, "Dear brother (or sister) I thank you for your life which will now be used to sustain the lives of my family. As you know, the cycle must go on. Nothing of your corpse will be laid to waste. When you find your spirit in the form of a human and I find mine in the form of a buffalo, I will give myself to you as you have given yourself to me." 

As the animal bled, it did not look as distressed or in pain as I imagined - I would say it was certainly humanely done. While the lamb lay, everyone was silent; a few of us in the pen rested our hands on it's warm body and a few cried. Even as someone who eats meat and who finds nothing inherently wrong with killing animals for food, this was still an intense and powerful moment, and I felt like I was taking part in something much bigger than myself. It also reminded me why I do my utmost to avoid supporting conventionally raised meat. This was the slaughter of animals who were well taken care of and loved. It wasn't about efficiency or supremacy (i.e "we are humans and we're better so we can do what we want"). It honestly felt like we were all equal. Animals, humans, the earth  - we're all in this together. The concept of 'death' was also different - rather than being a horrible negative thing (as many of us in the west are led to believe), it was clear it was a natural part of life, one which needn't be feared. You can't have life without death, and this experience was a poignant reminder of this.
 When the second lamb was brought out, we sang 'The river she is flowing' as it took its final breaths...

The river she is flowing, flowing and growing
The river she is flowing, down to the sea.
Mother, carry me, your child I will always be
Mother, carry me down to the sea

Finally, the lambs were hung from some trees, and we set to work skinning and gutting them. The strong smell of the fat lingered in the air (not an unpleasant smell), and we all played 'guess the organ' as we found the good stuff. The intestines (which took up a large part of the inside of the carcass) were set aside to be thrown away, and great care was taken not to perforate them (or the smell would have been a lot worse than it was!).   Finally the heads were removed (the brain was to be used to tan the hides), and the carcasses wrapped up to be hung and then butchered.
         Once the lamb became a carcass, it didn't seem so 'real', and it was much less emotional, though of course the previous events were still fresh in our minds. In a way, it is a shame most of us buy our meat all cut and wrapped up, so it's hard to imagine the life of the animal, how it died, what it was fed, and the impact of everything from beginning to end.  It makes us very disconnected to our food, , but I guess that's an  inevitable part of modern city life, and the luxury of convenience. But even if we can't always have  one on one experiences such as this, we can think and question and make choices, whether we live on a farm or in a city, and I am very thankful for that.

The hide

I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this, and it definitely made me feel more connected to nature and where my food comes from. I would highly recommend anyone  to take an opportunity like this if it ever arises!

I am sharing this on Fight back friday

Week 3/Foood

So, I kinda failed in my 'weekly updates', but I blame lack of a stable internet connection and exams! Nevertheless my food for the last two weeks was pretty much similar to week one.. I took a pic of some of the stuff I ate...

"It takes 40 muscles to frown, but only 12 to shove some chicken and rice in your mouth and get over it"

primal lemon curd - egg yolks, butter, lemon juice/zest and a touch of honey

mackerel and cortido

Technically this was supposed to be a 4 week experiment, but I sort of splurged on icecream and chocolate after my exam. However, after a few bites of over sweet stuff, and realizing it really wasn't worth it, I'm back to primal eating.

So how did it all go? Well pretty good. I'm glad I decided to be more strict diet-wise, and I know the benefits to me, so there won't be many lapses in the future! Also, 'the pain' as I have now started to refer to it did not come back when I was eating well, and taking care of myself.  This was just a reminder to myself that I shouldn't take health for granted, and that my chosen 'lifestyle choices' as my friend's refer to it are important to my well being. I encourage everyone to do their own 'experiment' - just take a few weeks, to be very strict health wise - so eat well, exercise, sleep well, reduce stress via meditation or other means, and just see how it feels. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Week one of 'diet experiment'

So it's been one week since the start of my lil experiment.
 Here's my food diary for the week:

Fri - grassfed beef top round, strawberries, an avocado,  organic elderberry syrup (low sugar)
Sat - 1 tbsp raw honey, rare grassfed beef top round with some suet, ginger and spring onions, 1 small avocado, handful strawberries
Sun - ground beef/lamb with spices, onions, garlic and peas, with some white rice
Mon - meat stew (oxtail, lamb breast and neck cooked in red wine with garlic and sprouted cabbage tops), grassfed beef top round, a bit of vanilla yogurt (grass fed unhomogenized guernsey milk), spicy mackerel cooked in coconut oil, elderberry syrup
Tues - small amount of basmati rice, spinach chicken curry, handful of blueberries
Wed - leftover meat stew, plain yogurt with some maple syrup, blueberries, strawberries, choc pudding (almond butter, avocado, cocoa powder, brown rice syrup)
Thurs - leftover meat stew, spicy mackerel in coconut oil, curtido, strawberries, almond butter
Fri - mackerel, curtido, strawberries, blueberries, primal lemon curd, whey

Thoughts
So, I think I did ok this week. Not perfect. But not bad either. I ate lots of berries, because my mum kept getting cheap organic fruit on offer for me, and we had a bit of a heatwave, and I like to eat berries frozen :)
Wednesday was a bit of a fail, as I had an exam and when I came home just wanted to treat myself (also had a ton of avocados that needed using up hence the pudding!). The elderberry syrup is also there as I came down with a sore throat and some sniffles (first time in a long time! Worst timing ever though :/)

I tracked everything on cronometer and here some important stats for my average daily intake:

Calories - 1267 net
Fat - 68g
Protein - 100g
Carbs - 62g
Sugar - 22g
Fiber - 8.5g

Calories are pretty low, but fiber is a bit higher than I would have liked, as is sugar (due to the fruit). Next week I'll work on lower fiber, slightly less protein, more fat and less sugar!

What differences have I noticed so far?

- A flatter stomach. It was amazing, I noticed a flatter stomach in the first few days and even after meals, as I was eating less in one go.
-My sleep was also slightly improved. Unfortunately I started this at the same time I came on with a bit of a sore throat/stuffy nose, but even then my sleep was pretty darn good

Diet experiment

I have decided to do a lil dietary experiment, suggested by a friend of mine. We are going to eat only animal foods for 4 weeks or so (though I won't be as strict - see below).
I've been slacking a lot with my diet recently, and I haven't seemed to have been able to get away with it, so I think it's good for me to do this experiment. I've been meaning to do it for a while actually, but finally decided to actually take the plunge! Plus doing it with someone makes it a lot easier.

Now I don't know if the time I have chosen to do this is the most ideal. I have exams coming up, and finish on June 8th. On the one hand I have no time to make extravagant meals or do baking, so I won't be doing that. But on the other hand, I'll be wanting 'treats' after a hard day of revision, plus I won't be able to stock up on grass-fed meat from the farmer's market as often. So I've decided to not be ultra strict with myself, but rather just focus on my main goals which are to:

-Drastically reduce carbs
-Eat more raw and fermented foods
- Limit fibre
- Avoid huge meals

So the foods I will allow myself in unlimited amounts : grass-fed beef and lamb, lamb liver, hearts, beef marrow bones, raw eggs, raw milk (fermented)

However, I will also allow myself some vegetables, low sugar fruits (berries) and coconut oil, in order to maintain variety and improve taste.  If I absolutely can't resist, I will also allow myself limited quanitites of white rice (a pretty much benign starch), BUT only once or twice a week, after a workout, and only 50g carb worth.

Overall this will be a huge improvement on my dietary habits of late, and I'm hoping to see some benefits health wise. I'll do a weekly update, on what I've eaten and if I've noticed any changes. I'm looking forward to this!

And some people call them...PRIMITIVE

The other day I shared this picture on FB, which seemed to be slightly controversial with a friend of mine :P, who proceeded to list why this was misleading and untrue. I agree that  the picture was slightly oversimplified and idealistic, but i think it made some valid points and was a reminder that civilization and technology does not necessarily make us better off (and thus tribes/hunter gatherers are not 'backward' as the word 'primitive' implies).

Ok first, let's talk about stress. Do hunter gatherers constantly stress about where their next meal is coming from, and spend all their time hunting and foraging? I doubt it. Not all anyway. There seems to be evidence to suggest that  hunter-gatherer tribes in the past actually had an abundance of food, as do many tribes currently living their traditional ways. Food abundance was probably more common in the past - until overpopulation and exhaustion of resources led to agriculture ( it has been proposed that agriculture was borne out of desperation ). Granted, modern day hunter gatherers are suffering at the hands of fucking Monsanto and greedy westerners who are destroying their land. But the !Kung have been observed to only hunt for 3 hours a day and the rest of the day they talk, play, relax, etc. Three hour work days! Doesn't sound so stressful to me..
        Sure they may experience stress when they are actively hunting their food, but this is acute stress. They do not suffer from the chronic stress that is endemic in today's world where people constantly worry/stress about work, deadlines, traffic, their boss, their social drama, etc etc. They also don't suffer the physiological stress most westerners suffer from late nights (disruption of the circadian rhythm) and a diet full of sugar and processed carbs. So I would say that actually tribes-people have MUCH less stress than many westerners.


So what about the bombs, prisons, crime, war? Yes violence in hunter gatherer societies is common. Yes the homicide rate millions of years ago was much higher than it is now (and in fact that rate probably contributed to their low life expectancy, so anyone who says we shouln't eat a high fat meat rich diet as our ancestors died at a young age...there ya go! )). They didn't have full scale war though as human density was pretty low.  But who's to say that was better or worse than todays war/genocide? It may happen less now than it did then, but it still happens. Some evidence suggests violence was an integral part of our evolution, and perhaps violence is just part of the human condition. Something not even 'civilisation' can eradicate.

- Junk food? What?! Sure, if you take some hunter gatherers and give them a bunch of burgers and fries when they're hungry they will probably eat it, as they don't know about trans fats, preservatives, refined sugar, wheat flour etc. They simply do not have junk food available to them. In the paleolithic area it didn't exist. Therefore they are way healthier than most westerners by the fact they eat natural REAL food humans are designed to eat. Simples.

- External debt? Yeah, tribes live within their own small communities and as a result don't worry about external debt. Or money. Pretty straightforward.

- No pollution. No argument there. Tribespeople live in remote clean untouched areas of the world (well some do anyway). Thousands of years ago, the entire Earth was pollution free. Humans now have destroyed most of it. But I'm sure most would agree a beautiful green clean earth would be a nicer place to live than a smoky polluted chemical filled, grey one, no?

-And finally poverty. Yes, it's hard to define poverty. The argument was that hunter gatherer tribes live a much harder life than the poorest person in a city. As I have stated earlier, I don't agree this is always the case. Furthermore, it has been shown (and it makes sense) that if one has enough food to eat, a shelter, and a strong supportive community, material wealth does not increase happiness. So tribes who have this would be much better off than some homeless inner city drug addict. Also, ever heard of journalists going to remote places in Africa where the kids are the happiest they've ever seen despite having much much less than the average westerner? And look at the west;  depression among adolescents is the highest it's ever been. Hmm, something to think about no?

In summary, I believe that a traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle and a modern day western lifestyle both have their benefits and drawbacks. Sure I appreciate technology and the fact I am much less likely to be killed today than millions of years ago, as well as the fact if I got a nasty infection or I accidentally cut off my hand, I'm more likely to survive than die. But our bodies have not evolved as fast as civilization. Some modern tribes and our hunter gatherer ancestors enjoy(ed) fresh air, the outdoors, a healthy diet and less chronic stress. So yes, in some ways they are luckier than us. I try to live my life taking advantage of modern inventions (due to necessity or preference) while appreciating the need to enjoy nature, sleep well, take time to relax and enjoy things I like, and eat a "human appropriate" natural diet. Perhaps embracing the 'best of both worlds' instead of completely lambasting one or the other, would do many of us good..