Without wanting to seem disrespectful of the upbringing I was given, I think it’s reasonable to say that my parents attitudes towards food while I was growing up were fairly conventional, and maybe a bit shy on the vegetables.
Not that I envy any parent trying to get their child to eat vegetables–there just seems to be too much substance to the cliche. Maybe it’s just their bodies telling them what they need to grow, and protein is higher on the list, and fats are just tastier, making kids natural Atkins followers.
Anyway, it’s only in the last few years that I’ve really internalized the idea that food doesn’t come from supermarkets, with its corollary that the tastiest meals on earth begin with the freshest fruits and vegetables you can find–and may not, in fact, really require anything else.
With this realization, shopping has become both easier and harder.
Easier, in that the starting point every Saturday morning is a stop by the “Carrboro Farmer’s Market”:http://www.carrborofarmersmarket.com/, and you grab what looks incredibly fresh and luscious (often from “Maple Spring Gardens”:http://www.maplespringgardens.com/ or “Maple Spring Gardens”:http://www.timberwoodorganics.com/Timberwood Organics).
Harder, in that once you’ve gotten home, you may find yourself wondering, “What do I do with two large eggplant?”. Thanks to the web, though, this is generally an easily solvable problem. Or you may have staple recipes–like, say, pizza every week while the tomatoes are fresh (it’s not tomato season, it’s pizza season).
Or, as tonight, steamed green beans, roasted potatoes and butternut squash and sauteed kale.
It can’t be beat.
