Wednesday 25 January 2017

bring on the vegetables


Plate of White Beans
Giovanna Garzoni (1600 - 1670)

I have been reading "This Is Not A Diet Book" by Bee Wilson. It is full of common sense - ideas that I have read over and over again in the past few years collated in a slim volume. I want to find it inspiring but it is curiously dampening as though I have been trapped in a corner at a party by an evangelical vegetarian. I know that the proposals are sensible but at the end of each chapter I feel like escaping to find a cookery book with pictures of decadent pavlovas and lush trifles which is foolish because I need to make changes.


Plate of Asparagus with Carnations and a Grasshopper
Giovanna Garzoni (1600 - 1670)

Much of my time over the past twenty eight years has been devoted to looking after my family but now I want to find a way to cook and eat which fits into my new 'Home-Alone with MrM' lifestyle. I have to unlearn the habits that have served me well feeding four and it is harder than it should be because the instinct to nurture is embedded at a deep level and I resist every step. I have to deconstruct my pattern of shopping and eating, discard what is no longer appropriate and experiment with new foods. And then, if I can successfully simplify my relationship with food, I want to get on with living. I must persevere.


Bowl of Artichokes
Giovanna Garzoni (1600 - 1670)

7 comments:

  1. I understand this completely. I have the whole family over for Sunday tea so I can get my 'looking after' fix once a week and try to restrain myself during the week.

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    1. I oscillate between frugal living for two and feeding a very active son who is starving all the time. My brain seems to have lost the capacity to adjust portion sizes so I am always getting it wrong.

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  2. And thank you for reminding us of wonderful Giovanna Garzoni's work - why is her name so little known? We're all familiar with the lack of reputation surrounding early women artists' work but you'd think the extraordinary beauty of her work would mean her name was better known?
    Elizabeth

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    1. Every time I stumble across another 'unknown' woman artist I am astonished. Thank heavens for the rich resources of the internet and the gradual relaxation of image usage by museums and galleries.

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  3. Hello Sue - so happy to see you back in Blogland. I suspect that you are further down the road than me because you are so organised about shopping and plan your cooking. I have a terrible habit of shopping for Justin Case - it is as though I was brought up in the war and need to keep the cupboards full.

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  4. Such wonderful images! As Elizabeth and Sue have said - why is the artist so unknown?

    Good luck with the cookery, I simply cannot concoct meals any more, it comes of having a partner who doesn't want to relinquish his role in his kitchen.

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  5. I totally sympathise and understand. My brood have long flown the nest and yet for years I have continued to cook and bake as though there was a houseful of men. I finally took the bull by the horns this January and just followed a simple eating plan in Good Food magazine, which basically involved lots more vegetables and such tasty dishes that in just over three weeks we are both feeling so much better and really don't miss the so called comfort foods. Plus as a bonus we are both half a stone lighter.

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