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Hi friends!
Today I’m going to tell you a bit about my eating journey. It’s a slightly longer story, but relevant because it shaped how I cook and eat today, which impacts the recipes I share and the content I’m creating. It's kind of vulnerable to share, and many of you who know me probably don't know this about me!
First, some background on my family. Eating is our family sport. Our family life essentially revolved around the next meal. On vacations, my dad would walk us around for what felt like HOURS, reading all the restaurant menus before choosing the best place. My mom cooked family dinner almost every night and we hosted a TON of holidays, parties, and friend dinners, which my parents cooked for - all from scratch and always a feast. (I am very lucky and grateful for this!)
Although eating and FEASTING were inherent to our family culture, health was also very important. My parents both worked out regularly, and my dad was always experimenting with the “diet of the day.” (I especially remember the era of THE ZONE… this was his favorite.)
Growing up we ate a lot of carbs and cheese, as was common in most American diets of the 90s. We ate plentiful veggies and protein too, but carbs and cheese ruled… pasta almost every night, sandwiches for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast.
There was a running joke in my family that I needed to go to “Finishing School.” I never actually knew what that entailed, but I think this notion related to my eating habits. I have always LOVED eating - and I would sometimes get so excited about food that I would forget my manners. I was always eating off my brothers’ unfinished plates, licking bowls clean, and occasionally popping entire mini fruit tarts into my mouth.
Well, my parents never sent me to “Finishing School,” so here goes the story that I probably wouldn’t tell had I gone…
It was 6th grade science class. I remember I was wearing my favorite swishy Adidas pants because it was a Tuesday, the day I played tennis right after school. In the middle of class… I let out a big, loud, smelly fart. Everyone knew it was me. I remember the kids talking and laughing at me in the hallway after class. I was mortified. The truth is - growing up, I had smelly farts ALL the time. It was SO embarrassing, AND I didn’t know any better, so I took it as normal. I lived in a constant state of trying to stifle them, or moving away so people wouldn’t smell them, or mastering the art of the deflect - playing dumb like I didn’t smell it, or claiming I didn’t know who did it but “EWWW IT’S SO GROSS.” It was always me.
Fast forward to 2012ish … Following in my dad’s footsteps (and American diet culture), when the gluten- and dairy-free trends began, I tried them out. And I found that when I eliminated these foods, I no longer farted all the time.
THIS WAS A REVELATION. I had always just accepted being the person with the smelly farts. But now I didn’t have to exist in daily embarrassment - constantly trying to hide my bodily functions! This may sound silly, but it was life-changing. As much as I loved dairy and gluten, I loved not-farting WAY MORE.
Let’s be real though, I love EATING above all, and I love it WAY too much to ever fully eliminate such delicious food categories from my diet.
SO - when I had my no-farting revelation around 2013, I began a quest to figure out - “How can I eat delicious food that I love, be healthy, not live in a constant state of embarrassment, AND do it in a way that’s easy and sustainable, as opposed to a strict, rule-heavy diet?”
It took me years of experimentation to get here, but I am happy to say that I arrived at a solution for myself. Essentially - at home, I eat what I call a “veggie-centric” diet. The three guidelines for this are: 1) I aim to eat as many veggies as possible, which means I strive for veggies to make up the majority of every meal; all other food groups are an “add-on.” 2) I am cautious of foods that I tend to over-eat, and I generally just don’t keep them around at home. For me this includes dairy, carbs, and even fruit (I buy fruit in small quantities and seasonally). 3) When I eat outside my home, I eat whatever I want and I enjoy it!
The key here is that I cook and eat at home ~75% of the time. If I was eating out and indulging all the time, this would not work quite so well. After a few years of this way of eating, I find that now, I generally want to eat “veggie-centric" when I’m out, because I just feel so much better when I do! Also - these are guidelines, not rules, meaning I don't always follow them, and I feel great about that.
Why does this matter? It matters because this story helps illustrate the three key words that generally describe the food I cook, and thus the content I’ll be sharing in my emails and in my course coming out this fall! The three words that best describe my food are: 1) VEGGIE-CENTRIC, 2) CRAVEABLE, and 3) EVERYDAY...
VEGGIE-CENTRIC - not only is this the way I like to eat, it’s the kind of cooking that most excites me! I also think it’s the kind of cooking knowledge that most people lack AND that people want most (all the wins)! Carbs and cheese generally taste great, and they are an easy way to make anything taste better. Making veggie-centric food taste amazing WITHOUT adding excessive carbs and cheese takes more skill, more knowledge, more creativity. THAT’S what I love to do (I love a challenge!), and conveniently, it’s where I think I can add the most value for you - my subscribers!
“Veggie-centric” is a loose term - and that’s on purpose! Sometimes I bake. I often put feta cheese in salads or on pasta or wherever it’s needed, because there is JUST NO REPLACEMENT for feta, or for parmigiana reggiano, or for many other specific foods that I love. I will include these foods WHEN they add something to a dish that no other ingredient could provide. I do not add cheese because the rest of the dish is mediocre and it needs the cheese to make up for it’s otherwise lacking flavor. Like everything I do, there is always intention behind the ingredients and flavors I choose.
CRAVEABLE - if you know me, then you know I have high standards. If I’m going to convince you to take the time to cook something - it better be WORTH IT! I strive for not just GREAT, but freaking CRAVEABLE! I believe I can teach you to make food that you actually CRAVE over eating out, especially vegetables! I STILL see a huge lack of tasty veggies when I go out to eat. Veggie options are more prevalent than they once were, but KILLER, BLOW YOUR MIND, AMAZING VEGGIES are often hard to come by. All the more reason to learn to make them at home.
EVERYDAY - As you know if you’ve been reading my emails, I’m most interested in getting busy people to cook as a built-in part of their everyday lives. Thus, the food I like to make has to be realistic and WORTH IT for people to cook on a regular basis.
Finally, I have never wanted to be in the business of telling people what or how to eat. (I AM NOT a nutritionist!) I think you should eat whatever YOU want that makes YOU feel good! We are all different, and I believe humans are highly adaptive to different diets. (See book The Blue Zones for evidence.) Foods affect us differently due to our genes and our environments, and I believe our bodies change and adapt over time. If you have a specific condition, then by all means, seek out the specific nutrition advice you need. I think most of us can agree that - with our more sedentary lifestyles - we could all do with eating more veggies. From a culinary perspective - Veggies are diverse! They are exciting! They are flavorful! They are great for the planet! And most importantly, they can be CRAVEABLE if you know how to cook them well :) Stick with me and I’ll help you out with that!
Happy eating!!
love,
Jess
PS. Thanks for reading this longer story! As I'm still pretty fresh in my content-creation career, I feel it's important to tell you about what I'm doing to make sure you're interested! You can always unsubscribe below if not. And for context, here is a picture of my family at the MECCA of Italian deliciousness: EATALY in NYC!
*** Feedback Please :) *** I would LOVE your feedback on these emails! What do you want to hear more about? What do you want less of? Are they too long? Should I keep putting a photo in, or leave it out? Let me know by replying or commenting on Instagram!
PS. If you're new, welcome to my weekly email: Food for Thought Fridays with Garlic Press Jess! Every Friday I share something short and sweet and food-related. About once a month I share a recipe, and I only share those with my email subscribers. So - if you want my latest recipes, way to go, this is the place to be! Make my day and forward this to your favorite food-loving friend(s), or better yet, forward and then cook something together! Wannabe subscribers can sign up here!
PPS. You can now check out past issues here including recent favorites:
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