The Electronic Age
As the saying goes, “the only constant is change” and this also applies to print media. As the original Nichi Bei Times was folding, another giant in the food and wine world, Gourmet magazine already announced it would cease operations. Nine years later, my favorite food magazine Cooking Light announced they would cease publication merging with the Eating Well magazine and of course, just three years later Eating Well folded as well. So the writing was on the wall years ago for all print media. Just in the Tatsumoto household, Ms. S who is as ardent a reader as any hasn’t purchased a book for years – all of her reading material is delivered via Kindle.
Therefore, if you want any type of business to be more than a memory, you must support them. Sometimes businesses fold simply because the owners just want to retire as in the case of Nam Fong in Chinatown or Pah Ke’s Chinese Restaurant in Kaneohe and that’s understandable. I’m sure all of us plan to retire someday. But when a closure is simply due to reduced business, those cases can be prevented. Purchase subscriptions from print media, gift cards or meals from restaurants or patronize smaller businesses instead of immediately going to the big box businesses.
But in any case, since this is my last column with the Hawaii Herald, I’ll leave you my own personal words of wisdom with respect to food, wine and nutrition…
Go for the Substantial Greens
When you recommend fortifying your diet with greens, most people still first think of salad greens like lettuce. Which I hardly consume as most salad lettuces don’t contribute much in the way of nutrients as they’re basically water with a scant amount of fiber and very little flavor. Plus their slippery surface in sandwiches facilitates tomatoes, pickles and even proteins to jettison out of your sandwich with the first bite. I prefer heartier veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages or bitter greens like arugula, broccoli rabe (rapini) and escarole. The heartier veggies also can be grilled or roasted – try that with lettuce – and they fill your stomach to potentially reduce your consumption of fattier proteins.
Get to the Root of the Problem
I first started with just the common carrot which was simply cut into sticks for my weekday lunches but quickly expanded to the whole repertoire of veggies grown down under… down under the soil that is. Roasting or grilling partially boiled beets concentrates the flavors and char that develops adds another flavor dimension not unlike grilled meats. The same can be said for peeled and parboiled celery root as well as sweet potatoes. And almost all root vegetables have enough substance to fill you up. Sometimes I serve them alongside a traditional protein, on other occasions I cube them for addition into whole grain salads tossed with a flavorful vinaigrette.
Get Your Grain On
In the 50th, the grain primarily served is the seed of that ubiquitous grass species, Oryza sativa more commonly known as rice. I guess most locals have also sampled that new age grain in the Amaranth family; quinoa, ever since Costco offered their pre-packed containers of quinoa salad. But there are a host of old-world grains that provide just as much nutrition with the same health benefits. Starting with the mother of all grains, farro. It looks just like a wheat berry or unhulled oat grain but usually is cooked as is unlike traditional wheat which is hulled, milled then processed to flour. Therefore it gives a pleasant chew and slight nutty flavor that’s perfect in soups or salads and because it is in the whole grain state, less likely to spike your blood sugar and carries a fair amount of dietary fiber.
Beans, Beans…
Maybe because of Mom’s Kumamoto heritage, I always enjoyed beans in all forms. I don’t care what Texans say, it’s not chili unless it contains kidney beans and many of our salads are fortified with beans. Sekihan with azuki beans? Always! Kuromame during oshogatsu? Definitely! And all the legume family don’t just provide extra flavor and texture, they are also nutritional powerhouses providing complex carbohydrates that don’t spike your blood sugar, excellent sources of soluble dietary fiber that helps lower your LDL cholesterol and are good sources of lean protein. And when bean protein is combined with wheat and sesame protein, it provides a complete protein that rivals any animal protein. So continue to enjoy your hummus on toasted pita bread!
Live to Eat
As it’s been said before, “No one makes it out of here alive.” We will all face the end at some point. So enjoy life. I’m not suggesting slabs of bacon and eggs with every breakfast but occasionally treat yourself to that perfectly cooked pork belly… or runny egg yolk covered in hollandaise… or that glass of Champagne with breakfast. Ever since an acquaintance in the wine community passed away several years ago, I still can visualize that last picture of him posted on social media with a T-shirt that read, “Life is Short, Drink the Good Wines Now.” No one knows when their number will be called so don’t “save” it for the distant future. Enjoy life now.
So over the past 8 & ½ years, I hope this column brought something to your life, a little knowledge, perhaps motivation for a life change or maybe just some laughter. I’ll still continue my Gochiso Gourmet column through the Nichi Bei News and hopefully start on that bucket list project, a cookbook. But it’s been a great ride talking to you through Ryan’s Table…
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