Help Me Obi Kalenobi, You're My Only Hope!

in
Young Kale in our cold frame

Happy New Year! Have you bought your collards yet? They are the New Kale and you will be eating lots of leafy green vegetables this year, right?????? Welcome to your annual reset: Bon Appétit's 2014 Food Lover's Cleanse.

I got my January issue of Bon Appétit magazine and it was chock loaded with ways to cook for the new you. They include mustard green, collards, and other righteous leafy green vegetables, a health food store worth of whole grains, and something called "Spiced pumpkin seed and cashew crunch" which I think I'm supposed to eat instead of cookies.

I'm also starting to find the word "cleanse" kind of gross. Perhaps T.C. Boyle's The Road to Wellville made a big impression on me, but "cleanse" has a certain elimination connection in my mind. From reading the magazine and web articles, it appears they are not concerned with my output but more focused on finding balance after the indulgences of the winter holidays. To which I say, don't go so crazy at the holidays.

I'm about to get all self-righteous here but we don't eat like typical Americans around the EcoHouse. So when I get a roast for Christmas dinner and there are some extra cookies consumed, we don't really sweat it. Besides, the holidays are a time of celebration and some indulgences come with celebration.

However, I furrow my brow when Bon Appétit spends all year going nuts with the butter and cream and tries to make up for it with tahini sauce on everything in January. If the editors really think that amaranth is going to save me, I hope to see several fine amaranth recipes in this year's issues. They might know that brown rice is healthier than white rice, but a lot of America doesn't. People who are going to go all "cleanse-y" are all ready on board with the program; Bon Appétit do your best to educate those who aren't.

More Info:

The Food Lover's Cleanse

T.C. Boyle

The Road to Wellville - movie