Fake Food Then and Real Food Now
Butter-Flavored Rubber & Other Things I Used to Eat
A few laughs with my sister about how much my idea of “good food” has changed
My sister came over today, and somewhere in the middle of a lovely long chat, I discovered something hilarious: my own little sister didn’t know I had a blog! (Well — she does now.) We got to talking about how differently I see food today than I did before I got sick, and honestly, we couldn’t stop laughing at the old me. Here are three of the stories that had us laughing.
1. The butter-flavored rubber years
Back in college, I bought food based on one thing: how good it looked in the package. I always grabbed the frozen chicken breast — the pale, perfectly white kind. And when I think back on what it actually tasted like… the only words I’ve got are butter-flavored tender rubber. That chicken was so pale because it had been processed to strip out the natural color. These days I happily buy chicken that looks like actual chicken — organic, free-range, a normal healthy color. Oh, the difference in taste. Younger me had no idea what she was missing.
2. The great lettuce panic
When I first started buying organic at Real Foods Market, I came in hot with my marketing background, ready to help. I actually pulled an employee aside to gently suggest that, you know, their produce still had dirt on it — as if that were a problem to solve. I was genuinely rattled when my first head of organic lettuce showed up full of real soil and sand, and I had to wash it about six times. That poor employee. He probably knew exactly what I was only beginning to learn: the dirt is the point.
Now? I love a little dirt on my vegetables. It tells me the produce is fresh and real, and that it hasn’t been buffed and coated to within an inch of its life. My sister’s a model, so we had a good laugh about produce “cosmetics” — because grocery produce really does get dressed up: waxed for shine, sometimes color-enhanced, sometimes treated to look fresher and last longer than nature intended. Give me the honest, dirt-on-it version any day.
Turns out the things I once tried to “fix” about real food — the dirt, the odd colors, the imperfections — are the very things that make it real.
3. Little friends in the broccoli
Which brings me to the broccoli. A few weeks ago I cut into a head of organic broccoli and discovered I’d brought home a few… extra guests. Six or seven years ago, I might have marched it right back to the store. Now I just smile. A few harmless little bugs tell me this is food grown close to nature, not doused in enough chemicals to keep every living thing away — and a good rinse takes care of them just fine.
It makes me think about how much wisdom there is in simply watching nature — the way people have for generations, noticing what thrives and what doesn’t, learning from cause and effect right in front of them. When food is grown the way it’s meant to be, life is drawn to it. I’ll take that as a good sign every time.
I’m just so grateful I finally know what real food looks like — dirt, funny colors, honest imperfections, occasional broccoli buddies and all. It only took me getting sick, a patient health-food store, and a good laugh with my sister to get here. Better late than never!
“O taste and see that the Lord is good…” — Psalm 34:8
Lots of love,
Steffanie
A caring note: I’m a wellness educator and a mom sharing my experience — not a doctor, and none of this is medical advice. Always wash your produce well before eating (yes, even the ones with little friends!), and do what’s right for your own family.
A few laughs with my sister about how much my idea of “good food” has changed
My sister came over today, and somewhere in the middle of a lovely long chat, I discovered something hilarious: my own little sister didn’t know I had a blog! (Well — she does now.) We got to talking about how differently I see food today than I did before I got sick, and honestly, we couldn’t stop laughing at the old me. Here are three of the stories that had us laughing.
1. The butter-flavored rubber years
Back in college, I bought food based on one thing: how good it looked in the package. I always grabbed the frozen chicken breast — the pale, perfectly white kind. And when I think back on what it actually tasted like… the only words I’ve got are butter-flavored tender rubber. That chicken was so pale because it had been processed to strip out the natural color. These days I happily buy chicken that looks like actual chicken — organic, free-range, a normal healthy color. Oh, the difference in taste. Younger me had no idea what she was missing.
2. The great lettuce panic
When I first started buying organic at Real Foods Market, I came in hot with my marketing background, ready to help. I actually pulled an employee aside to gently suggest that, you know, their produce still had dirt on it — as if that were a problem to solve. I was genuinely rattled when my first head of organic lettuce showed up full of real soil and sand, and I had to wash it about six times. That poor employee. He probably knew exactly what I was only beginning to learn: the dirt is the point.
Now? I love a little dirt on my vegetables. It tells me the produce is fresh and real, and that it hasn’t been buffed and coated to within an inch of its life. My sister’s a model, so we had a good laugh about produce “cosmetics” — because grocery produce really does get dressed up: waxed for shine, sometimes color-enhanced, sometimes treated to look fresher and last longer than nature intended. Give me the honest, dirt-on-it version any day.
Turns out the things I once tried to “fix” about real food — the dirt, the odd colors, the imperfections — are the very things that make it real.
3. Little friends in the broccoli
Which brings me to the broccoli. A few weeks ago I cut into a head of organic broccoli and discovered I’d brought home a few… extra guests. Six or seven years ago, I might have marched it right back to the store. Now I just smile. A few harmless little bugs tell me this is food grown close to nature, not doused in enough chemicals to keep every living thing away — and a good rinse takes care of them just fine.
It makes me think about how much wisdom there is in simply watching nature — the way people have for generations, noticing what thrives and what doesn’t, learning from cause and effect right in front of them. When food is grown the way it’s meant to be, life is drawn to it. I’ll take that as a good sign every time.
I’m just so grateful I finally know what real food looks like — dirt, funny colors, honest imperfections, occasional broccoli buddies and all. It only took me getting sick, a patient health-food store, and a good laugh with my sister to get here. Better late than never!
“O taste and see that the Lord is good…” — Psalm 34:8
Lots of love,
Steffanie
A caring note: I’m a wellness educator and a mom sharing my experience — not a doctor, and none of this is medical advice. Always wash your produce well before eating (yes, even the ones with little friends!), and do what’s right for your own family.
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