Nourishing Traditions

I am a huge fan of tradition -- starting, but not ending, with traditional Catholicism.  I believe we need to get back all good traditions that we have stupidly cast away in the name of modernity.  So, it was providential that about a month and a half ago, I stumbled across Sally Fallon on Steve Cunningham's Resistance Podcast.  Podcasts cost me more money than pretty much any other form of entertainment, because when I listen to an interview with the author of an interesting-sounding book, I inevitably end up ordering the book.  So it was in this case.  And the book of which Sally Fallon is the author, Nourishing Traditions, is gradually becoming a game-changer.

Nourishing Traditions is more than just a cookbook.  Basically, Fallon's thesis is that most of what we eat these days is garbage.  The garbage we eat is making us sick, thanks to food production and processing methods that leach out nutrients and sometimes even add in toxins into the bargain.  In some cases, the "food" itself is not even really food.  Much of what's out there is designed, not to provide good nutrition, but to stimulate our cravings so we'll buy more.  Highly nutritious foods like butter, eggs and red meat are demonized, while crap gets foisted upon us as "healthy."  If we are to recover our health, says Fallon, we need to recover the traditions of our ancestors when it comes to the selection and preparation of foods.  In addition to recipes and instructions, Nourishing Traditions is full of information about how nutrition works, various types of foods, various types of food preparation, research into traditional diets, the dietary habits of isolated societies, and where to find supplies.  Fallon has a lot to say about the benefits of raw dairy products, germinated grains, fermentation (not just for beer), organ meats, stocks and broths, and much more.  The book is not the last word on all these things, but it is wide-ranging and a very good starting point if you're looking to turn over a new leaf in your culinary habits.  

And turning over a new leaf in culinary habits is a very good thing to do.  Lots of people have discovered the merits of fasting -- The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung is another must-read -- but it seems to me that fasting is only part of the picture.  The big part is learning to prepare and eat foods that actually promote our health.  And it seems that vitamins and minerals are best gotten by way of food, rather than by relying on supplements.  After all, the food has been provided by God, Who knows how to give us exactly what we need; and we have generations of experience and tradition to guide us in how best to prepare it to get the most out of it. 

I awaited Fallon's book with baited breath.  Only tens of pages in, it made so much sense that I decided to start immediately with the low-hanging fruit -- which, in my own circumstances, turned out to be raw (unpasteurized) dairy.  Raw milk is illegal in some states, and unfortunately, it is not cheap; happily, however, it is legal in Idaho, and I have easy access to raw milk right in my own town.  I've always been lactose intolerant -- an unfortunate status for an ice cream fan -- but it turns out I can drink raw milk in moderation without too much difficulty.  I  fermented a quart of it to make whey, which is an ingredient in many of Fallon's recipes.  So far I've used whey in iced coffee (a little doesn't change the taste), to make salad dressings, and in a lentil soup recipe.   I also made a batch of beef bone broth that does very well as a base for sauces and soup.  I even add a little bone broth to hot coffee (and it also doesn't change the taste).  

And the results?  Well, I am still a fat, middle-aged broad and I still have a long way to go.  But I actually have started feeling better.  I feel like I'm getting nutrients I need, so a lot of cravings are quieting down.  My digestion seems to be improving.  I think the bone broth especially is dynamite.  My skin has begun to feel softer.  Hot coffee with some bone broth is a great way to start a busy day.  Bone broth, being jammed with good things your body needs, also allows you to go for a lot of hours without feeling hungry, and so makes it a lot easier to fast.  

So have I tossed all the contents of my pantry and my refrigerator to comply totally with the advice in Nourishing Traditions?  Nope, and I don't intend to, as that would be wildly imprudent.  This is all about building up good habits and routines, and that is best done gradually, starting first with things that are easiest and then working one's way up to harder or more involved things.  

People the world over are realizing that modernity and the ideology of the "Enlightenment" are a sham, and that we need to get back to the traditions of our ancestors, than whom it turns out we are not smarter after all -- quite the contrary.  In a world where our rulership is bent on keeping us chronically ill and selling us on the idea of feeding on dystopian, Frankenstein-like concoctions like lab-grown "meat," a very important set of traditions that we urgently need to recover is the traditions of food: its selection, its production, its preparation, its role in building up not only our bodies but our families and our communities.  Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions is an invaluable help to getting us started on the road back to the good things in life that God gave us and that we never should have left behind.