Taste – a matter of Choice
Choosing what food to eat is a matter of personal taste. Well, yes, of course it is. But, these days, we have to be conscious of what we eat and try to control our weight and health. Today, I am more conscious of the need to control my portion-size, then I used to be. Cooking for one person is often difficult; you often end up cooking too much for one meal. Some say that the answer is to freeze what is left over and have it later. Or, the surplus could be put in the fridge for a snack the next day. That sometimes works. What is difficult is preparing the right amount of food for one meal. This is sometimes dependent either on the recipe being used or on the size of the packets or tins. If a certain quantity of food has to be prepared (depending on the recipe or the size of the raw in ingredients) then it might be better to cook more than is needed for one serving and save the rest for later.
Choice
Choosing which foods to eat is a matter of preference; but the overall choice is about diet and ensuring that eating is providing the body with the necessary nutrients, minerals and vitamins required to stay healthy. Some people do not like salad vegetables. They will not eat lettuce, raw tomatoes or cucumber. No amount of health advice and platitudes about ‘five a day’ will draw them out of their distaste for salads. Me, I have about five salads a week, mainly served as side-dishes to bowls of pasta or rice with curry. A large bowl of fresh fruit is always on my table. My thinking is that if I am getting a constant supply of fresh fruit and vegetables, then I can indulge my taste for the less healthy dishes.
Variety
One other thing about meals is that I need variety. The same dish will not be repeated twice in the same week. Each day, I cook something different, for dinner, than I had the day before. So, if I have meat on Monday, I might have fish on Tuesday. Rice on Wednesday is followed by pasta on Thursday. Meals with potatoes are not taken two days in a row. Taste is necessary for happy eating but so is variety. Most of this is about our attitude to food and eating. We eat for pleasure but not for self-indulgence. We eat to stay healthy. We eat what we think is good for us, including our weight. We have to feed our bodies and, if that works, we are also feeding our minds. Perhaps I should call this ‘Zen and the art of cooking.’ My whole approach to cooking and eating is similar to a philosophy or even a religious faith; or just intuition. Conviction in believing I have got it about right dominates my attitude to food. It is Zen because it is about self-fulfilment, balance and management of life. The more we cook, the more we understand the process and other skills required to undertake it correctly.