I’ve had a bit of  strange weekend, which I am thinking of breaking Gastrocast tradition and sharing some of via podcast. . . not sure yet. How much of me can you really tollerate?

I went shopping on the mainland on Saturday and was gone most of the day. I did a bit of soundseeing but there was other stuff on my mind which may have crowded in on quality material.  Sunday I hopped islands and went for a job interview. I spent 5 hours for an two hour interview. Got to see a phenomenal Organic Farm, but couldn’t do any soundseeing. Met some interesting people, but ideologically I am having a problem. I have been left with a dilemma, the horns of which I am not sure how to dodge at the moment. I fear I am all too willing to be gored.



Back in Gastrocast #6 I mentioned how I didn’t agree with the Raw Food Movement, and I thought it would be a passing trend/fad. This is different from Raw Milk issues, in that the debate about Raw Milk is more about benefit versus drawback in cheese making–but, also about the health benefits versus potential disease risks. Most people who enter a Raw Food diet do not believe in dairy Raw or Pasturized anyway.



Where I am having a problem is, that I may have to eat my words about Raw Foods and have a deep rethink (well, continue too) or stick to my beliefs and suffer a life of penury. The interview I went for yesterday was for the position of Raw Food cook for a family who is changing their diet from a standard one, to one that is at least 80% Raw Foods and Suppliments. I haven’t been offered the position yet, but I am certainly in the running. The job is local, challenging, but more importantly pays fairly well and leaves me with free time to persue other work and educational opportunities.  However, the drawback to this sort of position is the power and closeness food has in our lives. I would be preparing three meals a day for these people in close proximity to their lives–nothing I haven’t done before. Except they are fantical about Raw Food, and are following the practices and beliefs of a sort of Guru. Cash and Job or not, I am not sure I can pretend to agree with them on something I feel so passionately about.



I do agree that Raw Foods and vegatarianism have a place in our lives. It is certainly worth eating healthy and reducing or correcting our risks for cancers, etc. I do not believe that a persons choice to eat one way or another is anybody elses concern, but I also do not beleve that animal rights and environmental issues can be tackled with a diet based attack alone. We must have synergy in all aspects of life. I believe that there is a reason Humankind eats the way it does. Biologically, socially and physically. We cannot turn our backs, as we have tried in the last 200 years, on over 6000 years of known dietary belief. Some of the greatest vegetarian cultures–I am thinking about Asia here–all allow meats in their diet and all balance cooked and raw foods. There is a yin and yang to it–balance. To lean heavily in one direction and to say all else is bad is not only loathsome, but wrong.



If Raw Food were the only issue at hand, I do believe I could bite my tongue and perform to my fullest. However, because there is an element of pseudo-religion and metaphysical bibble-babble here, that I would be expected to agree with, I am not sure I would have any tongue left. One of the primary thing which disturbs me, above all else, is how people try to re-create foods which they know–tofu hotdogs, veggie-burgers, cheese–made from soy, Marinara sauce which is uncooked and has no onions, etc., Burittos which have no beans, meat, tortillas, etc. Why name these things for something which IS already? These things and others so don’t resemble the original article why falsify the reality?



Using heat to develop flavor, breakdown fibre, aid digestability is at the heart of every culture. How can mankind have got it so wrong for centuries, and only since the so called, (very backwards) Enlightenment can we be on the path of ultimate correctness? I am going to continue wrestling with my ethical dilemma throughout the day as I speak with my clients and hone in on the job specifics. I would love to work as a full-time chef with a free hand to create dishes as I want, gathering the best, organic produce as nature provides. I would love to work in a beautiful, natural setting–the stuff of dream jobs. But I would also like to serve a grilled duckbreast along with those organinc greens, and berries, paired with some nice cheese and a beautiful Pinot Noir. Followed by a rich cup of coffee. Life is to be enjoyed and food is one avenue for expression. It not only nourishes us–if we allow it–it feeds our soul, our being. It draws us together or holds us apart. We live in an age where our food can be our health, but we need to be realistic about it–what is a life in pursuit of health without enjoyment of what we eat. We might as well be feed through a tube in a transcendental state of ignorance. That is not life or enjoyment.

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