No Country for Old Food Standards

At the moment, I’m trying figure out how I can make a Tikka Masala dish without tomatoes…and make it taste like Tikka Masala. Tomatoes are now verboten, like a number of other regularly used ingredients. And this is not my first dietary-shift rodeo.

These days, I’m guessing there are many people navigating some sort of health-related dietary adjustment. Whether it’s dairy or gluten sensitivity, thyroid disease, gout and/or arthritis, or something else. You are told you can’t eat this. You can’t drink that. Don’t cook with these. Thanks in no small part to unenlightened food production, the new food standard is…there is none. It seems almost everyone needs some sort of specialized diet.

Chasing down the ideal food for you and/or your family is quite the quest. It’s really not for the faint of heart. In fact, there may be a lot of kicking and screaming involved along the way — by either the cook, the eater, or both. If yours is home to multiple diet requirements, and you’re the chief cook, there may be days when you just may want to sit down and cry.

My reason for writing this particular post is to reach out to anyone in a similar situation, to reassure you that you are far from alone. I am also here to share with you that making these types of changes can even be fun, at least some/most of the time.

Time and Effort

The main truth of the matter is that making food adjustments can take time and effort. For example, the days of processed foods in our pantry and freezer are behind us. I make more and more from scratch. If we had the resources, I’d be growing as many vegetables and other ingredients as possible. But we don’t have such resources nor do we have the ability to devote that much time to the endeavor.

Pick Your Battles

So, we pick our battles. We have discussions and make decisions about what we eat and how it’s prepared. We sometimes sneak in an ingredient from the forbidden list, to make sure we don’t become bored or frustrated doing without.

Currently, I don’t make my own condiments like mayonnaise. It’s a conscious decision when there are so many other things I do make from scratch. That decision could change anytime.

On the other hand, I’m now committed to making my own vanilla extract. Considering just how ridiculous the cost of this particular extract has become, this was a no-brainer decision. The range of pricing on average seems to be anywhere from $8.00 for 4 ounces to upwards of $55.00 for 16 ounces. At the time of this writing, the King Arthur flour website is selling a 16 ounce bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract for $54.95. What?

Plus, making vanilla extract is crazy easy. You just need patience with the aging process. I made my first batch on September 21 and I’ll be checking it on December 21 to see if it’s reached its peak. Meanwhile, it’s fun to watch its transition from clear to amber and ultimately that signature dark brown color with recognizable taste.

I am also making my own yeast breads, the no-knead artisan kind. After avoiding it for years, I now embrace and love making these breads. It is so satisfying and rewarding. The aroma that wafts throughout the house while it bakes is heartwarming.

Trial and Error

In my case at any rate, some food adjustments are made by trial and error. I experiment quite a lot with available recipes as well as creating my own. I have had a few failures, but for the most part I have been energized with the amount and type of successes I have had. Most of the time I view all this experimentation like a welcome expedition. I test myself and my ability to create great-tasting meals. I am proud when I create my own recipes. The failures are momentary glitches (although I do hate the waste in terms of ingredients).

What to Make and What to Buy

There are a number of variables that impact what you do to make food adjustments — the most important of which is your time. If you work full time, you have to allow yourself the grace of buying more of what you need.

If there is a food delivery service that can accommodate a new diet, and you can afford the service, this is a good direction to take and the best place to start making changes.

There is a cost to whichever change you make, be it in money or time. It will be up to you to make decisions that fit into your lifestyle, budget, and family dynamics.

Let me be frank about one of the realities of making your own food. There is no easy back up to running out of your carefully produced food goods. In our household, for example, there is no such thing as fast food or food fix. If it isn’t made, it isn’t available. At times this can be frustrating.

Tools and Gadgets

Here’s something else to consider when you’re deciding what to take on yourself, in terms of what to make and what to buy. Making more of your own food can require equipment you may not already have. Think flour grinder, Instapot or slow cooker…whatever tools and gadgets your new diet and menus may require. These things also have to be budgeted for.

Now that I am baking my own bread, I’ve discovered I need a few new things to make them properly. First, I bought a couple of cooling racks. It turns out that part of the bread baking process lies in the cooling of it. If I don’t want a soggy bottomed or overly dense bread, then letting it rest on a cooling rack is a smart investment.

I also want to be able to make at least two types of yeast bread at a time. Different types of breads require different rising times. Now I need at least one more large glass bowl (FYI, for me this is a 12 inch diameter glass bowl). I also require more available flour, so I need a few glass canisters with locking lids to keep it all fresh and protected.

Caveat alert here: I discovered, much to my dismay, that ordering the correct bowls and canisters is not at all straightforward. I just don’t understand it. Baking and cooking have been around for how many millennia, and yet there is not standard for sizing of these items? What knucklehead is responsible for this egregious error?

As I mention above, I want another 12 inch diameter glass bowl. It’s perfect for bread dough rising purposes. And yet, when I went to search for one online, all the results came back in terms of quarts. Trying to correctly convert quarts into diameter, via converting quarts into ounces and such…was somewhat of a nightmare. I only had success with finding the correct (I hope) glass bowl when I went directly to the Pyrex website. They actually include diameter size in their product descriptions.

On the other hand, finding reasonably priced hermetic glass canisters that can accommodate 5–10 lbs of flour is still illusive. Fingers crossed, I ended up buying two 110 quart glass canisters I found on the World Market website. Why is it so bloody difficult to find what you need to bake properly?

There isn’t a Single Path

Don’t let anyone tell you have to make any food adjustment “just like this.” The path you take is as individual as you are. The trick is finding what is right for you, right for your family. And you may need to change up things more than once. That said, do not ignore the fact that you need to make changes to what and how you eat. Not only can it impact your quality of life, your life may depend upon you making conscious food choices.

One Piece of Advice

Try to have fun with your food. Play with it. By that I mean seek to have fun with your own ideal food quest. This is no country for old food standards. It’s a dietary rodeo with bucking eaters and saddlesore cooks. But a rodeo has its fun side and there is usually good food to be enjoyed.