There's a community in my kitchen

I'm thrilled and honoured to have a guest post up on the fabulous Limes & Lycopene blog.  A Community in my Kitchen, inspired by Kathryn's excellent 31 Days to a Better Diet series, describes one practice I've recently added to my "diet" that is helping me eat in ways that are healthful for me and the planet. And have a good time doing so.

I'm not going to say much more than this -- you'll have to read my true food confessions on Limes & Lycopene.

Food is heaven

Found in a favourite recipe book this quiet Sunday morning while doing research and writing on community eating:

As you can not go to heaven alone,
Food is to be shared.
Food is heaven.
As you share the sight of heavenly stars,
So food is something which must be shared,
Food is heaven.
When food passes your throat,
You accent heaven in your body.
Food is heaven.
Ah! Food is something that must be shared.

- KIM CHI HA, Korean poet

This poem is part of the "Declaration of Conscience" ...[the poet]... wrote while in prision. He was detained on charges of subversion, for raising issues of justice in the minds of his fellow citizens. He was placed in solitary confinement for smuggling his "Declaration" out of prison.
(Extending the Table, A World Community Cookbook, pages 214, 252.)

A pleasing mixture of textures and flavours

After I rediscovered barley's great flavour and versatility a few weeks ago, I began searching through my favourite cookbooks for recipes featuring this grain. When I turned to Persian Barley & Split Pea Stew in this Moosewood book, I stopped looking. "Now here's something different from the usual barley and mushroom combination," I thought.  And it also met the criteria I'd set for the next new recipe-to-try: #1) a mixture of grains, legumes and vegetables, #2) simple -- not necessarily fast-to-make, but needing only basic tools & skills and one or two pots, #3) adaptable to making in stages, and #4) most if not all ingredients on-hand in the pantry or cold storage (fridge, freezer, or, make-shift "root cellar" on the balcony). This past weekend, all the necessary ingredients, including time, energy and concentration, converged in a pleasant afternoon cooking session and a tasty Sunday dinner...

Persian Split Pea & Barley Stew

... A comforting, hearty meal on a March day when the weather sharply shifted from lamb-like to leonine, and my thoughts turned from seed-sowing to protecting the balcony plants from freezing. The next day, a snow-day and a rare Monday off work for me, I enjoyed leftovers at lunch. I also put in the freezer several future meals for busy days. Yes, I agree, fresh is best, but because of my work hours, I need ready-to-serve meals that I can turn to when time, inspiration and energy are running on empty. (I worry a bit about confessing these things. I hope you won't be shocked or disappointed to know I don't cook from scratch everyday.)

Now, on to the recipe. I'm sharing the classic version as published with my modifications in {curly brackets}.

PERSIAN SPLIT PEA & BARLEY STEW

This combination of grains, legumes, and vegetables offers a pleasing mixture of textures. The barley adds chewiness and the yellow split peas help to thicken the flavorful vegetable stock. The currants and sweet spices nicely offset the tanginess of the lemon and yogurt

STEW
1/2 cup raw barley
1 bay leaf
1 large garlic clove
4 cups water
1 cup dried split yellow peas
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup coarsley chopped onion
1 cup carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 cups potatoes, cut in 1-inch chunks
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pinch cayenne
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons currants
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

GARLIC YOGURT (optional)
1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
2 minced small garlic cloves
pinch of salt

toasted pine nuts (optional)
lemon wedges (optional)

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the barley, bay leaf, garlic and 2 cups of water to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. {In the morning, I cooked the barley in a rice-cooker.}
3. Add the split peas, cardamom, cinnamon and the remaining water and simmer, covered for another 45 minutes, or until the barley and split peas are soft and most of the liquid has absorbed. {While the barley was cooking, I cooked the split peas & seasonings in a separate pot.}
4. Stir occasionally and, if necessary, add a small amount of additional water to prevent the mixture from sticking. {I combined the cooked barley and split peas and set them aside in the fridge until late afternoon when I continued with the next steps.}
5. While the barley and split peas are cooking, place the onions, carrots, potatoes, salt, cayenne, and stock in a large saucepan.
6. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.
7. Stir in the tomatoes and continue to simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
8. Add the cooked barley and split peas. Stir in the parsley, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Discard the bay leaf.
9. If desired, combine the garlic yogurt in a small bowl. Sprinkle on a few toasted pine nuts and serve with several lemon wedges or a dollop of garlic yogurt.

Nutrient analysis (without optional ingredients) based on 6 servings; serving size about 500 mL (2 cups)

Calories (kcal)	264.9	Folate (μg)	139.6
Fat (g)	1.6	Vitamin B6 (mg)	0.3
Protein (g)	14.1	Vitamin B12 (μg)	0.1
Carbohydrate (g)	51.7	Calcium (mg)	109.1
Sugar (g)	11.2	Iron (mg)	4.4
Fibre (g)	7.4	Sodium (mg)	1105.1
Vitamin A (μg)	457.6	Potassium (mg)	972.6
Vitamin C (mg)	30.1
Vitamin D (μg)	0
Vitamin E (mg)	1.3
Thiamin (mg)	0.4
Riboflavin (mg)	0.2
Niacin (ne)	7.2

Source: Dietitians of Canada's Recipe Analyzer.

Canada's Food Guide/Vegetarian Food Guide evaluation: A 500 mL (2 cup) portion provides about 1 serving of high-fibre grains, 1 serving of low-fat meat alternatives/legumes, nuts, other protein-rich foods, and 2 servings of vegetables. The yogurt provides a partial serving of milk products/calcium-rich foods.

Rating: 5 stars for so many good things in one simple stew: flavourful, nutrient-rich, economical, easy-to-make and slow. Time at the stove, stirring the aromatic ingredients, was a pleasure that preceded the joy of eating.

New resources added to my clinical nutrition practice library

 During the past couple of weeks of Googling, tweeting, & blogging, I've discovered new-to-me resources -- some through focused searching, others by stumbling upon them while looking for something else. Here are the keepers I've bookmarked to help me with reading the literature, assessing and planning care, educating interns and answering patients' and families' questions. Perhaps they will help you, too, whether you are providing, receiving or learning about health care.

• Evaluating Health Information (Medline Plus)

• Understanding Medical Research

• Evaluating Medical Research Findings and Clinical Trials

• Medical Biochemistry, particularly the Biochemistry of Vitamins

• Evaluation of Laboratory Data in Nutrition Assessment (ppt)

• Long-Term Enteral Tube Feedings: Ethical Guidelines for Health Care Professionals (MS Word) {Source}

• Patient and Family Guidelines - Making Decisions About Long-Term Tube Feeding (MS Word) {Source}

I've saved all the delicious, food-oriented finds for a separate entry -- a treat for me as much as you because those posts are so much fun to write.

"Longing for Recognition" -- A new and different book on dietetics

This morning while skimming "Gerry's List", I read about a new book on dietetic education and practice -- I admit the fascinating title made me look closely:

Longing for Recognition
The joys, complexities, and contradictions of practicing dietetics

by Jacqueline Rochelle Gingras, PhD, RD

Published by Raw Nerve Books,  York, UK, 1st February 2009,
ISBN 978-0955358654

$25 CAD, $22 USD

Longing for Recognition offers a radical new way of understanding nutritional health practices. In contemporary food culture, the work of dietitians has accrued new and urgent meaning, and Longing for Recognition is addressed to that group of practitioners. The author, herself a dietitian, crafts an autoethnographic fiction that presents a critical and thought-provoking argument for a more self-reflexive, relational, and embodied profession. Her compelling narrative draws the reader into its timely call for rethinking what counts as knowledge in dietetic education. Longing for Recognition will be invaluable for dietitians and other health care professionals who wish to enhance their practice as one that considers first and foremost what it means to be human.

Reviewers' Comments

Longing for Recognition is a landmark nutritional and educational text and a whole new way of mapping the terrain. The book is an urgent, eloquent and compelling journey towards tomorrow's dietetics, and Gingras draws us out from 'safe places' to hold vulnerability up to the light. Engagingly narrated through both a personal and a conceptual lens, her book is a telling and necessary exposition of her discoveries. Lucy Aphramor, RD, Health Researcher, Coventry University, UK

Professionals too rarely address the limits of their training or the strong emotions produced by the dilemmas they face in their work. This richly layered story - compelling in its attention to real people with complex lives at work and at home - treats nutrition educators as accomplished but also fully human practitioners, who struggle to reconcile the realities of everyday practice with their desires to make a better world, for themselves and others. Marjorie DeVault, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University, USA

About the author
Jacqueline Gingras, PhD, RD is an Assistant Professor at Ryerson University's School of Nutrition, Toronto, ON. She conducts research into dietetic education and practice. Previous work has appeared in publications as diverse as Feminist Media Studies; Food, Culture & Society; and Educational Insights.

Source of book information.  Author's web page.

I very much like the book's subtitle: it aptly describes my (and maybe your) experiences & emotions when getting and giving nutrition knowledge in a "real-world" setting. Sometimes the process and interactions are joyful: more often, they are complex, and contradictory, with elements of controversy & uncertainty added to the mix. I think Dr. Gingras is correct: a reflective, fully human, honest orientation will enhance our practice & profession.

Congratulations, Dr. Gingras, on this thoughtful book and thank you for it.