A Catholic way to Eat?

Updated: For some reason, every time I copy and paste something into Blogger it gives that goofy white background/highlight.  I am working on fixing this!

This is a fantastic article.  It is an interview with Daniel Rabourdin, who is originally from France, and he discusses the differences of his childhood diet in the 'tuscany' of France and the harried, convience food culture here in the USA, and the connection of food and Catholicism.

Really, just go read it.  I could summarize but it would be a disservice to his beautiful words.  I will admit, however, that the words are challenging for me.

A few of my favorite passages:

What do you mean by ‘virtue’ with regard to eating?

I mean for example that the opposite of gluttony is temperance and that is a necessary virtue to have a good life. We need to know when to stop eating.

Doing so is like looking intelligently to the future ourselves. This means that if we are 20 years old, we care for the “ourselves when we will be 60 years old”. We take care of ourselves with proper food, exercise and lifestyle.

The wisdom of the generations should teach us that, for instance, purified sugar is not good. There is enough sweetness in figs or raspberries. And in figs or raspberries there are mineral and vitamins. Sweetness is a smart way in the universe of food to make us eat what is good for us. But if we eat quasi pure sugar such as in white flour cookies, we do not eat a sustaining food.

That “good habit” of eating fruits instead of pure sugar can be transferred to children in a traditional upbringing. Grandparents who have learned with time that pure sugar leaves them tired and depleted of nutrients can tell the children.

If children do not hear about this and thousands of other things about food, they start their lives deprived of thousands of years of knowledge. I will be a bit strong here but I think that this is a little bit like going back to the Stone Age. All knowledge is to be acquired again.

So a traditional upbringing teaches children how to eat properly?

So much… As children and if we have to good parenting, we prefer to eat the chicken and French fries instead of the spinach and Kefir yogurt. We eat the ‘easy’ food even if it is going to hurt us in the future. Gluttony and greed is like that, to be a child without parents is like that, to be a twenty years old who did not hear his grandparents is like that.

Another good habit of eating is that food should both taste good and be good for you.

And all of those principles should be learned with fun.

Here is a ‘trick’ that my father used with us children. He may serve us some sautéed garlic, carrots and parsley on our plates. (The goal is to teach the children to eat the most diverse and healthy foods. This is so that they keep eating that way in the future).

We children were appalled at those carrots.

But my father would not force us. He would just take that food back for himself and eat it all with exaggerated enjoyment. So us children reacted in saying, ‘We want of that too if you like it so much!’ My father did not impose, he used fun. But he cared to transfer knowledge to us: eat as diverse as possible, as fresh as possible and keep extending your experimentation of food.

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it is time to rediscover what it is to be a nurturer. We have the deep meaning of the nursing of children by their mother. Why not continue with the way we cook?

And in this, real love asks us to give real food. Real love asks us to not give ‘Cheetos’ but to give mashed sweet potatoes. Real love asks to give real butter — not margarine. Real herbs that have antioxidants, not fibers in cereals…

I am so trying to implement that last paragraph in my home, and it is hard.  I didn't exactly know how to cook fabulous meals when I got married, and it can be a challenge to plan, shop, and cook all homemade, healthful meals.  It is especially hard to get a toddler to eat such food as spinach and beans instead of mac and cheese.  I am trying to read as much as possible about changing the way we eat and discover new recipes, (and vegetables) and it is at times overwhelming.  This article, however, is very encouraging and really touches something in me that I know is true: The beauty of Catholicism, as opposed to a more Puritan view, is that we respect the body and view ordinary things to administer extraordinary graces in our lives.  This is clearly the most true at the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, but we can create similar beauty and grace in our own homes, every single day.