About Me

My interest healthy eating was sparked a long time ago. I quit eating red meat and poultry when I was 17 (I still eat fish and seafood). A highschool classmate was the owner of one of the biggest meat and supermarkets in Argentina, and one fine day her dad invited the whole class to visit the slaughterhouse. I still vividly recall this spectacle: they cows were manually hit on the nape of the neck with a mallet, then slit open from top to bottom and then hung to loose all their blood. I remember walking right next to the row of hanging cows, almost in shock. Right after that, they served us a huge asado or barbecue. The ironic thing is, there were about 100 of us there and I was the only one who was that impressed. The others probably still buy meat from Mr. Coto. Some even asked for the pleasure of killing a cow themselves.
Anyway, with time this interest matured into more of an obsession, especially when I got pregnant with my first child five years ago (I now have Bruno, 4, and Olivia, 2). I wanted to do everything I could to make sure that my child would have the best possible nutrition. I spent my pregnancy and Bruno's first months reading like crazy, and was then so pleased with myself for cooking these healthy alternative baby foods for him, while all the other mothers followed the standard norms, which to me seemed completely wrong. This self-righteousness would later catch up with me.
When Bruno was 20 months old he was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disorder with unknown causes. A blood test in the hospital revealed an iron deficiency (not related to the disease), even though I had been careful to feed him loads of lentils and other iron-rich vegetable foods. The doctor ordered red meat three times a week. We were so worried about his health for other reasons, I no longer felt I had the authority or expertise to decide not to feed him meat.
The first time I went to buy meat was traumatic. My husband promised he would cook it, but as the kitchen at home seems to be my exclusive domain, there was no other way, and it soon became just run-of-the-mill. Olivia has eaten meat since she was a baby (she now has red meat once a week, and chicken twice a week. I do take care to give them only organic meat, in small amounts.) I take it with equanimity. They are also very happy to eat seitan, tofu, nuts, seeds, grains, fruits and vegetables!
Last year at some point I became utterly bored with the routine obligation of cooking for 4 every single day, and decided I needed something to rekindle my love for the kitchen, and some new ideas to avoid repeating the same recipes over and over. So I signed up for a year-long course in natural energetic cooking with Montse Bradford -a woman with a ton of expertise and experience in the field here in Spain. I'm sure her name will come up frequently in my posts.
I am now about two-thirds through the course and my passion for real food has returned and kept growing! I have been cooking delicious recipes at home, and have learned a lot about a new way of eating. However, I still feel the need to gain enough self-confidence to be able to depart from some of the more strict maxims of Bradford's system (which I could call mostly macrobiotic, with a Mediterranean twist), and find my own path to nutritious, healthy and delicious eating, without becoming a total outcast (recently I was invited to lunch at a friend's house, who prepared ricotta ravioli, and I found myself anxiously debating what to do, eat the dairy and refined starch or not?!). This blog is an attempt to share my reflections, experiences, and experiments and gradually find that path.