Points of View

Hello, again. This weekend got away from me a bit with one thing and another. But I am still in time for Monday and this week's recipe may require a little detective work on your part anyway. More on that later. First up today is a story from the recent Meatless Monday blog on the Huffington Post. It is a profile of how one overweight chef decided to try meatless eating as a way to preserve his health and gradually changed his tastes and his thinking, eventually becoming The Sexy Vegan. What started as a 30 day experiment turned into more and more plant-based cooking, then blogging, posting videos and finally writing his own cookbook. This article includes his recipe for veggie meatballs, which look pretty good if you're looking to spice up a plate of spaghetti this week.

Next up is the story of a New York Times restaurant critic and his reflections on the recent spate of stories on the negative health impact of red meat, which I discussed last week.   He shares his story of being a meat-obsessed foodie and how he ended up with gout (does that make you think of King Henry VIII or is it just me?) and had to cut back on all the meat and alcohol to preserve his health. His description of this process is pretty funny, described on a recent New York Times food blog post. His story ends with self-imposed moderation, and a discovery that nuts and grains help him to feel full. But I thought that this quote was particularly perceptive and a good message to think about on MM:

"You never really quite appreciate just what a cornucopia of food alternatives exists — just how many culinary directions you can set off in — until a few are cut off and you’re forced to re-route yourself."

That is certainly one of the reasons for the success of MM. People are able to try a whole range of new foods and recipes that they otherwise might not have tried and that is what keeps it interesting. Which brings me to this week's recipe, a traditional Korean dish which you may never have heard of, but which we count as a new family favourite recipe, ever since I first experienced it at a resort restaurant in Muskoka, of all places, and then had to hunt it down to make it for myself. The name literally means "mixed and stirred vegetables," but the key ingredient is sweet potato starch noodles and here is where the detective work will come in. You will have to go to an Asian or ideally a Korean grocery or supply store to find them. All the other ingredients should be easy to find (see the blog for pictures), but together they are so much more. Good luck!