Category: Food

Relishing Food

In my old age, I’ve become something of a cook and now enjoy food much more, as I am able to produce meals that have a lot of taste. But it begs the obvious question, what is taste, what is the taste of food? If you think about it for a moment, it comes down to the tongue’s reaction to the chemicals in food. The tongue — this magical organ with its taste buds — plays the pivotal roll, especially the very tip of the tongue.

And the more you get your tongue involved in each morsel of food, the greater the intensity of the taste of that food. So it is actually possible to increase that intensity by slowing the chewing process and lengthening the amount of time the tongue has to twirl and savor the food.

And then there is something called the “aftertaste”. It is literally the lingering taste of the food after you have swallowed it. The mouth and tongue are still slightly coated with that taste so there is this faint but discernible aftertaste. How many gourmets, instead of rushing on to the next bite mindlessly, take the time to enjoy this aftertaste? Many? Any?

The bottom line about taste is to eat more slowly so that you let your tongue do it what does so well…and don’t forget that hint of the taste in the aftertaste. So mindful eating is the way to go if you can manage it — to get even more taste.

Cool

Amino Acids

Interesting fact: there are exactly 20 amino acids involved in making proteins in the body, 9 of which must be acquired through food — the so-called “essential” amino acids, but there are hundreds of other amino acids as well.

They now have refined the daily requirements for amino acids down to the individual 9 essential amino acids and how much of each one should take in — and which foods have the greatest amount for each.

Amino Acids

My Story

OMAD

My more elaborate OMAD meal: bottom layer is barley/lentils soaked in tomato sauce with garlic powder, then mixed vegetables and broccoli and tomato/beans all mixed together, then chopped onion on top of that, then a layer of finely diced organic leafy greens, and top level mushrooms cooked in red wine.  Predominate taste is that onion/garlic/tomato paste combination.  The barley/lentils make it very hearty.  The cooked mushrooms in wine are a kind of meat substitute. 
I’m only missing the BS in GBOMBS.  But then I have a handful of pecans or almonds, and various berries for dessert.  Always blueberries.  I always finish with eating a lot of different fruits.  Meal takes from 1 hour to 2 hours, then 22/23 hour fast.

Cooking

Get a bunch of the baby red potatoes. Put in a pot and boil for a few minutes. Take out and cut each in half or smaller if the baby potato is large. You want pieces that don’t have a lot of potato on the inside. Keep the skins on. In a large bowl, put in the following ingredients: balsamic vinegar, large teaspoon of honey mustard, liquid aminos, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, rosemary, onion powder, 2 large teaspoons of almond flour (the secret ingredient to make the potato crispy). Stir the entire mixture well. Dump in all the potato fragments and tumble them with a large spoon so that everything gets well soaked. Put all the pieces on a large pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in the over at 400 degrees for 60 minutes — start testing at 50 minutes with a fork spearing one item to try it. Let them cool on top of the oven until lukewarm, and eat a dozen warm. Put the rest in a plastic container, put the container in the frig, and eat the potatoes cold the rest of the week. Add the cold pieces to various dishes for an added dimension.. I use mine in various bean salad concoctions. Many people use chili powder and/or paprika but I don’t like the taste personally. I am wondering about the various Indian herbs like turmeric or curry or cumin. I’ll try something like that next. Trial and error. That’s cooking.

My Story