So if the rules are so loose, what in heck are we doing?

We have allowed ourselves a lot more leeway than most of the food bloggers we have seen who are also involving themselves in this.

If so much is acceptable, from spices to what's already in the pantry, from bananas to road food, are we actually making any changes?

Yes and no.

We are agreed that our diet and approach to it could be better. We agree on a general plan of attack. We have an overall concept of preferred foodway, and have been working towards it or some time.

We will be steering more and more over the next years, with the Locavore Challenge as a kickstart, to something we call "European Macrobiotic". The idea is to eat traditional, pre-New World foods as they occurred in Western Europe until relatively recent times, and as our ancestors would have approached them.

We will intentionally remove almost all factory foods, try to limit the junk we rely on, go for more home cooked, planned meals rather than "fridge diving", and generally aim for a less crappy diet with more awareness overall.

Our general plan of attack is so fluid so we can stick with it. Our recipes are either off the cuff, craves, or from some neat old European cookbooks which have been coming in to print over the last years.

One of my favorites of the very early cookbooks is Das Buch Von Guter Spise, "the Book of Good Spice" which is a convent cookbook from Germany.
I like the fact that I can see the original recipe, decide if I even want to deal, and go from there.
The foods called for are not all available, much less to our preferences. However, some of the seasoning combinations are revelations, and the food is designed to be simple, pleasant, and reasonable to prepare. Unfortunately, it isn't organized like a modern cookbook, so it's a pain to navigate. The big risk to using foreign cookbooks of any age is when the translator changes the recipe to suit their own perceptions, but doesn't explain that decision to the reader. We might never know, when we are getting bilked.

My favorite modern cookbook is the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. It can be fussy, but since I am searching more for inspiration on flavor combinations, it works really well. The recipes range from very simple to quite elaborate, the ingredients as well. The flavors and successes from it have been bringing me back to the book more and more.


The Big Guy has been referring to Florence Lin's Chinese Regional Cookbook. It's a very practical layout, clear and simple to find recipes in. If you enjoy reading cookbooks for color, this isn't the one. If you just want to find a recipe, it's great.