Take and Bake

Francine Kaufman, author of Diabesity and essayist in the Hungry Planet: What the World Eats wrote that ever larger numbers of people live in families, attend schools and inhabit neighborhoods where it is extremely difficult to maintain a healthy diet. She says "They are the victims of a society that does not seem to care, of an economic structure that makes it cheaper to eat fries than fruit, of the food industry and the mass media luring them to consume what they shouldn't."

This past Saturday some friends gathered together to make batches of cookie dough for the freezer. Dough for Monster Cookies, Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Oatmeal Raisin, and $250 cookies were mixed and scooped into balls, frozen and packaged to take home and baked when they are ready to be eaten. Okay, Okay.....I know this isn't health food. And it definitely isn't diet food. But cookies are a fact of life. We have a choice when it comes to sweets and desserts: McDonald's Sundaes, Keebler Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream........or homemade, freshly made cookies that don't use preservatives or packaging. It is not a great choice.....but it is a choice.

Our take and bake cooking day highlights what I've been pondering recently. I am looking for ways to lesson my dependence on oil via plastic, packaging, and transportation. Often the ways are fairly simple. Like getting together to make cookies and storing them in reusable containers. For me, having a treat like cookies in the freezer, lessens the urge to buy packaged cookies or fast food desserts higher in preservatives, fat or sugar than simple homemade cookies. We laughingly called the oatmeal in our cookie dough "health food", we know it isn't, but we could do worse.

I love our cooking days and the other times when we gather together for field trips to farmer's markets or bulk food stores. They are times of inspiration and fellowship, and part of the ongoing quest to find ways of avoiding the lure of our current American culture of fast, processed food. And they are also times of thoughtfully planning and sharing about simple, healthy, foods and meals that encourage community.

This is also the beginning of the season for Farmer's Markets. Fresh produce has not yet begun to appear, but it will before we know it. And then it will be weekly walks to the courthouse square to buy produce in season, produce that is not wrapped in plastic, and produce that is locally grown. One more way to lessen my dependence on oil products. Inspiration for menus will come from the farmers market and not from the food industry and mass media. I have a choice in eating and cooking healthy, simple food. Many may not have a choice or do not choose the healthy option. I hope the encouragement of my food friends, and just the fun we have together keeps me on track to make good choices.