Herbs & Spices

It has been a long and busy 23 days. I had no intention of "abandoning" my blog for so long. A lot happened: It rained so much in Charleston, i got busy eating. Everything from bok choy to squash, bell peppers, tomatoes etc. Even my corn is responding to my love. I have never grown corn outside of Nigeria but it is happening. I am getting more confident about growing food that we eat back home, here in Charleston. The climate is very similar so why not?If you choose to try just go to your local African store and ask for yams for example. It is like Yucca only less starchy and a credible complex carbohydrate. Red beans (not Kidney) are the same too. The American staple menu of foods can be flat out boring. For me, if I spent a lifetime eating the foods here alone, it would be like living a lifetime without ever utilizing the right side of my brain. I find that it lacks "lingering taste". Perhaps the best way to describe this is the feeling one is let with after spending time with someone they love. Lingering taste is what keeps one from getting hungry too soon after eating. It curbs one's appetite and creates a "healthier relationship" with a dish. I think "lingering taste" ensues with the help of herbs and spices. For 4 days i kept a log of how much herbs and spices i used on typical Nigerian dishes. I used between 8 and 13! Amazing only when compared with American staple dishes. Now one can understand how eating like this can "wake up" one's taste buds.
As i detracted from eating badly this is a habit i had to re establish. Herbs and spices are the easiest to grow. Good quality garden soil, a big pot, sunny easily accessible location and your favorite herbs & spices. Good Luck!

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My Epiphany... The Miseducation of Florence.

Convincing My "Farmophobes"
My Epiphany

Pretty much everyone in my family is a farmophobe. A farmophobe is a word i made up and it refers to any adult who wants nothing to do with gardening. I say an adult because children need direction and good habits can always be cultivated in them. I knew something was wrong with my lifestyle when i moved to this country and gained 38lbs. I knew i wasn't eating more but wandered what had caused this weight gain that nothing i did could shift. I started taking a closer look at the quality of food i was eating and realised that processed foods and "low quality" vegetables were doing me no favors whatsoever.

I was born and raised in West Africa then moved to Europe as a teenager. These were the factors that made the effect on my "change in diet" very obvious to my body. I never felt myself: energy level down, sluggishness, moody and challenged memory. Now these were not factors that would warrant the average person to go see a doctor, but they were certainly obvious enough to me. It meant that my weight gain was not my only battle. I started getting educated....

In my culture, cooking & eating has always been a group effort...

The Misedducation Of Florence

Growing up in Africa, then Europe meant that my move to America was literally "manna from heaven". I had arrived in the promised land where all dreams come true. This may sound over board to the average American but this is how every immigrant views their accomplishment after making the move here. Food was a huge part of what we envy about America. It seems abundant and abundance is a show of wealth, wealth is a show of success, hence the seduction. Food is everywhere here so this little African girl who thought of food as someting you ate when your stomach rumbled and as a chore (The African cooking process can be deliberate & elaborate) now started seeing billboards, T.V ads and celebrations where food was abundant but with little preparation effort. Back home the only luxury to food eaten with little prep effort was that one was a guest at the host's home. Food was everywhere i went when i moved here. When i say food, i don't mean raw vegetables, i mean prepared food was every where. It seemed so instant and easily available. I never saw ads with a basket of potatoes, kale and raw fish or meat, i saw it prepared and ready to eat in pictures and T.V. Happy people in media also always seemed to be eating.... Wow my epiphany occurred, i was always thinking about food something had to change. I had to "uneducate" myself. It seemed like this great land had gotten one thing wrong. I was dissapointed. I came here to learn new things.... modernize, drop old "primitive ways". This is the land with the best academics in the world. I want them to teach me. Surely the way they do things has to be better than ours. This is why i came here. Did this mean I had to turn back and re-adopt an old way of life? I realised with wisdom that not everyone is perfect. Life is give and take. I should not villify my culture because my country was unable to stabilize itself well enough to give me opportunities to remain. Perhaps it had gotten somethings right. Now that i am here i must find ways to incorporate these ways into my new lifestyle.


In my next Blog I will tackle Shopping for things you'll need for a garden & choosing what you need.

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