A weekly Column by Chef Daniel Orr

Daniel Orr is Executive Chef at Kitchen Stadium, Santorini Restaurant, Famiglia and the Tapas Lounge and Rum bar at CuisinArt Resort and Spa and is working on “A Chef’s Diet” Cookbook and Cooking in Paradise.

BALANCE

Chef Daniel Orr

When I was growing up in the Midwest, we served huge amounts of food. The Grain Belt menu was based on carbo-loaded dishes to give farmers and farm hands sufficient energy for the hard work they did. For family get-togethers there were big bowls of chicken and dumplings, grits with cheese, biscuits, fried chicken, icebox cakes, pies and cobblers – all wonderful but deadly. But balance was there – food as fuel to match aggressive exercise on the farm. Now most farm work is done by machines, and farmers, like the rest of us, need to think about balancing food as fuel against food as indulgence in our lives, and save the everyday dishes of the past for special occasions.

To understand the art of balance in our diet, we start with the old adages “you are what you eat” and “everything in moderation.” Life in big cities as well as in suburban and rural areas – even on idyllic islands like Anguilla – can be difficult and hectic. Finding balance in one’s diet, lifestyle, or any habit for that matter, is for most, a challenge. It’s tough to say “I’ll only have one bite” or “I’ll only have one beer” and actually do it. The good news is that finding balance is not about having only one of anything or entirely eliminating a food that you enjoy. It’s about understanding the relationship between what you eat, how you balance that fuel with exercise, and how you structure upcoming meals by taking into account what you’ve eaten earlier in the day or the day before. When you create a balance you create a healthy, and enjoyable, lifestyle.

We’ve all heard parents or grandparents: “When I was your age I didn’t have anything on the table, so you’d better eat everything” or “We didn’t have shoes to walk to school in so appreciate the advantages you have now…” Actually, they may have had an advantage over us because there was less processed food, and for most, a more structured family life, and possibly even less stress. Today’s children grow up putting a package of denatured food in the microwave and calling it dinner. Kids, not to mention adults, on a regular basis skip breakfast; eat pizza, burgers and fries, frozen vegetables, hotdogs; and drink milk pumped with hormones and antibiotics. How can anyone begin to think about achieving balance when the lure of convenience and speed shuts us off from a natural, healthful and satisfying diet? We need to integrate organic foods, home cooking, stress relief and a realignment of our goals into our lives. (One way to start: try my recipe here for Cabbage Chips – it’s a healthy snack food if there ever was one.)

Kids don’t learn how to cook any more. When I teach cooking to kids, many can’t tell the difference between iceberg lettuce and zucchini – to them they are all vegetables. Sixty-seven percent of the American diet consists of potatoes, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes (mostly canned), carrots and onions. I read in the New York Times that in the 1950s, the average American ate 7.7 pounds of cheese in a year; now it’s 30 pounds. Most of this cheese is grated factory cheese used on tacos, pizza, nachos, fast-food hamburgers and frozen food – and we wonder why we are among the most obese populations in the world.

Nature has provided us with an abundance of fruits, vegetables, fish, fowl, nuts, seeds and berries – so many wonderful and surprising, natural foods – it is hard to believe that heaven could be better! Where are these foods in the average American diet? Whatever happened to stuff like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, watercress (or even asparagus, to be really adventurous)? As culinary ambassadors, chefs have tried to expose the public to new, exotic, and heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables for years. Some foods, like avocados and different varieties of greens, have become standard in urban grocery stores. Chefs and restaurant goers alike must learn how to arrive at an equation of cooking and eating that is both healthy and enjoyable – and teach this to the next generation. Balance is just a heartbeat – or heart attack – away.

To understand moderation is to understand balance. Understanding moderation means that when you have a hankering for something not particularly healthy, like a burger and fries, maybe you eat it, but you take your time, enjoy it to the fullest, then commit yourself to spending extra time exercising, and get right back to your healthy regime. Understanding moderation means that you educate yourself and learn to take advantage of all the wonderful foods that are out there. Tasting the first Macoun apple or the first soft-shell crab of the season is a splendid experience. Anticipate these experiences as the happy events they are. If we as chefs, parents, friends and lovers find these things important enough to celebrate and share, we will educate others about the variety that nature offers us, and it will be easier for more of us to find balance. If we remember that balance allows indulgence (in moderation!), we’re halfway there!

I’d love to hear from you. I am collecting recipes and stories for future articles and books and would love to include your favorite family recipes and food memories from the kitchen, the garden or the sea. You can reach me at dorr@cuisinart.comor stop me on the road if you see the CuisinArt Chef Mobile.

Cabbage “Chips”

This is one of the most popular dishes that I serve to friends at home. I get more recipe queries for this one than many of the more dramatic things I do, probably because it is so simple. Cabbage, and all sulfuric vegetables, are great for your complexion as well as your digestion. When you’re trying to cut chips and pretzels from your pantry, try this recipe. Make sure you share them with loved ones.

1 small head red cabbage
1 small head green cabbage
Ľ cup ponzu sauce (or soy sauce and lemon juice in equal quantities)
Ľ cup rice vinegar
Ľ cup honey
1 teaspoon Chinese chili paste or fresh chiles, sliced thin
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Cut both cabbages in half and cut out the cores. Tear into “potato chip” size pieces and place in a big zip-lock bag.

In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix to dissolve the salt. Pour over cabbage and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from refrigerator, shake and pour into a “potato chip bowl” and start snacking.

Note: you can change the flavor by adding cilantro, sesame oil or your favorite spices. You can add color and crunch by tossing in some carrot slices or any other veggies you have in your refrigerator’s salad crisper.

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