Page 14 - Winter2014

Letters

versity of Nairobi (maybe through an to “smell” do you take the feathers off music channel so he would love me. I
anthropology or African studies depart- and prepare the bird. Without this fer- thought a perfect appearance was the
ment) might be interested in hosting a mentation, he insisted, the experience or key to being loved and admired. Too
WAPF speaker. Wouldn’t it be fantastic quality of the meal would be ordinary at bad it really started to wreak havoc on
for WAPF resources and information to best. me at such a young age.
be made available in Kenya before the David Wetzel At that time, the magazines were
Western diet does much more damage? McNeal, Nebraska telling me to go off fat. So I went for it in
Please let me know if you think this bouts. Typically I would try a lowfat diet
could happen. A SOUP BUSINESS? for ten days to two weeks, then I would
Lisa Schnoor I am visualizing an alternative to fall off the wagon. Little did I know that
Silver Spring, Maryland the existing Meals on Wheels and con- I was literally starving myself of the fats
gregate meals. I am seeing an ethnic my body desperately needed at this time
If someone would volunteer to go to trend in the San Francisco Bay area of intense growth.
Kenya for this project, WAPF could pay that features East Indian and Chinese The bulimia cycle set in quite rap-
all the expenses. cuisine. It makes me think that the idly. I despised myself for having such a
conformity and uniformity is starting weak will. Eventually depression started
PHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE to crack—something I learned from a showing its head along with the bulimia.
I have been reading the Physiol- Joel Salatin lecture. The worst part of this story is that I re-
ogy of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat- For nearly a year now I have been ally wasn’t overweight, and other girls
Savarin (1755-1826). Brillat-Savarin the self-designated soup maker for my could have looked at me with envy.
claimed he could look at a person’s face parents, who are in their eighties. Once At age sixteen, my first love died
and discern whether the person had the a week I deliver a big full kettle of soup in a car accident. The downward spiral
ability to appreciate exceptional foods. and we fill up jars and pitchers for the of an eating disorder amplified. I was
The person needed a wide palate, he fridge or the freezer. They tell all of their talented and successful but being unable
said, to have a well-rounded experi- friends and know I could make a busi- to control my eating made me think I
ence with food. People with narrow, ness out of it. I am a former accountant was hopeless. Isn’t it terribly absurd!?
elongated faces had “dull eyes,” and it and am recording what I make each Yet that is what millions of young girls
would be a waste of time exposing them week and compiling the quantity and are experiencing.
to the finer qualities of taste. People with cost from the receipts as a way to create Things got better when at age
large, round or square faces would have a business model. twenty I married my husband. Neverthe-
the ability to appreciate fine food, and Karen Boyer less, I was still greatly bulimic. I tried
their eyes would be bright. He said facial San Carlos, California all sorts of fad diets in the hope of shed-
shape was related to the diet from early ding a few pounds, pretending that I did
childhood! If you are interested in investing in it for health reasons. Some time later, I
He presented the outline of the Karen's business, please contact her at really did start to be concerned about my
Atkins diet; to lose weight he recom- klboyer56@comcast.net. health—digestive health at first and then
mended no grains and starches, but lots degeneration of all systems in my body.
of proteins and fats. A DIET SAGA I searched for answers in the nutritional
He has many stories about broth We were both raised on the Stan- department.
and health, and many ways to make it, dard American Diet. I (Marie) first Here’s a short list of the diets I tried:
including crushing bones. started to have a preoccupation with Susan Powter’s lowfat paradigm; raw
To prepare a pheasant, he instructed food at the age of thirteen. I wanted to foodist (I would juice till I turned blue
chefs to ferment the bird with the feath- look like the girls my big brother (whom in the face!); fasting, monodiet cleanse;
ers on and only when the bird begins I loved dearly) showed me on the TV vegetarianism with lots of soy milk (I
10 Wise Traditions WINTER 2014 Wise Traditions

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