Slow Food, Real Food and Other Terms I Wish Were Redundant

Image Taken From  Rawforbeauty

I was in a class a few years ago and during the break the Professor and one of the other students started talking about “slow food”.  I listened to their conversation for a while, but I couldn’t figure out what they were talking about.  I knew what fast food was, but slow food stumped me.  Surely they weren’t singing the praises of crock pot or slow cooker cuisine, that didn’t make a lot of sense, but I wasn’t sure what they were talking about.  I apologized for interrupting their conversation and asked what they meant by “slow food”.  I was told it was the opposite of junk or fast food.  I said “oh you mean just food.”  They both blinked at me.

Now as an aside I hate ice hockey.  Not the sport itself, but the term.  Hockey by definition is played on ice.  If you wish to define a variation of the game then you can add that to the name, field hockey, floor hockey, ball hockey, street hockey, but there is no need to emphasize “ice” because of course it’s played on ice unless otherwise stated.  But I digress.

Food is food.  If you fry it it’s fried food, if you buy it at a drive thru it’s fast food, but by definition if it’s cooked in the home it’s food.  This seemed absolutely redundant to me until I started taking more interest in what people around me were eating.  All too often home cooked actually means home heated or re-heated.  This is one of the main issues I had going vegan.  I can eat pre-made veggie burgers and faux chicken nuggets sometimes but I don’t understand exchanging meat for a fistful of chemicals.

I used to eat a lot of processed food.  I was raised on a diet rich in hot dogs, fish sticks and tasty coating mix, but I also had issues with indigestion, chronic thirst, and feeling generally unwell.  I gave up processed food a few years ago, granted not entirely since my go to cake recipe starts with a cake mix and a box of instant pudding mix,  but typically if you eat something I’ve made, I’ve actually made it.  Occasionally I use frozen vegetables and until I conquer my crock pot fears and learn to cook dried beans I will continue to use canned beans, but overall if I say I’m cooking, I am cooking with fresh, unprocessed ingredients.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging, I understand convenience and lack of time and tasty food.  But convenience foods and processed foods are supposed to be for special occasions or nights when everyone is frazzled, not an everyday choice.  I work hard to eat straight up, honest to goodness, real food.  It hasn’t made me thin, it takes more time and sometimes I really crave a dose of “special sauce”, but I take comfort in knowing what I’m eating and I feel better for it.

– the Goddess

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