The Nourishing Old Ways
The Nourishing Old Ways
Bone broth, fermented foods, and the quiet wisdom of how our great-grandmothers ate
If you were to peek into my kitchen on a good week, you’d probably find a pot of broth murmuring away on the back burner, a jar of something bubbling and fermenting on the counter, and a bowl of grains quietly soaking by the sink. To some folks that looks like a lot of fuss. To me, it looks like coming home — back to the patient, old-fashioned way of feeding a family that people simply knew before the age of boxes and drive-throughs. I’ve fallen head over heels for the nourishing old ways, and I want to tell you why.
My love of this started with two questions: why, and how. The “why” came from a couple of old classics that shaped how I think about food — Dr. Weston A. Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the work of Dr. Francis Pottenger. In his travels, Price documented traditional communities around the world eating their ancestral, whole-food diets and observed how robust their health seemed — and how things shifted when modern processed foods arrived. Whatever one makes of every detail, the big idea stuck with me and rings true: the closer our food stays to the way it comes in nature, the better our bodies tend to do.
The “how” came from a cookbook that has been my kitchen companion for years: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. If the old ways of cooking feel like a lost language to you, this is the book that teaches you to speak it — how to soak grains so they’re gentler on your tummy, how to simmer rich broths from bones, and how to make your own fermented foods. I recommend it to almost everyone who takes one of my classes and asks, “Okay… but where do I even start?”
And oh, the fun we’ve had learning it as a family. There is nothing like a pot of homemade bone broth — deeply savory, full of minerals and gelatin, and about the most comforting thing I know to sip on a tired day. Then there are the fermented foods: tangy sauerkraut, spicy kimchi, creamy kefir, and ruby-red beet kvass. Fermenting is a little bit like magic — you’re inviting the good bacteria to do their ancient work, and what you get back is food alive with natural probiotics and enzymes that many of us feel just plain good eating. My kids have gone from wrinkling their noses to actually asking for a forkful of kraut, which still makes me laugh.
Most of the wisest food advice in the world isn’t new at all. It’s just the patient, humble way people fed each other for thousands of years.
There’s a bigger reason all of this fascinates me, too. Science is only beginning to catch up to what grandmothers seemed to sense in their bones: that the gut is astonishingly important. We each carry trillions of tiny microbes in our digestive tract, and researchers are increasingly intrigued by how much those little helpers seem to influence — not just digestion, but possibly our mood, our energy, and our overall sense of wellbeing. This whole field of the “gut connection” is young and still unfolding, but it’s genuinely hopeful, and it’s part of why tending our gut with real, fermented, nourishing food feels so worthwhile to me. I’ve been reading in this area lately — including Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a physician who writes about the gut and has a real passion for broths and fermented vegetables — and while some of these deeper protocols are quite involved, the simple heart of it always leads me back to the same humble place: eat real food, and be good to your gut.
Now let me slip in a couple of caring, honest words, because I love you and I’d never want to lead you astray. The gut science is exciting but still emerging, so I’d hold the big “this heals everything” claims loosely — and any very restrictive healing diet, especially for a child or anyone with a medical condition, is something to walk into gently and ideally alongside a doctor or a registered dietitian, so no one ends up missing nutrients they need. And this one matters most of all: if you or your little one has a true food allergy, please treat it as the serious thing it is. Get it properly diagnosed and managed with your doctor or an allergist, and never reintroduce a food you’re allergic to hoping you’ve somehow “healed” past it — a real allergy can be dangerous, even life-threatening, and no diet is a substitute for real allergy care. Nourishing food is a beautiful thing to add to your life; it works right alongside your doctor, never instead of them.
But here’s the joyful truth: you don’t need a fancy protocol or a perfect plan to begin. You can start this very week. Simmer a humble pot of broth from the bones of your Sunday chicken. Buy (or brave making!) a jar of real sauerkraut and add a forkful to dinner. Soak your oats tonight for tomorrow’s breakfast. One small, old-fashioned, nourishing thing at a time — that’s the whole secret, and it always has been.
Bone broth, fermented foods, and the quiet wisdom of how our great-grandmothers ate
If you were to peek into my kitchen on a good week, you’d probably find a pot of broth murmuring away on the back burner, a jar of something bubbling and fermenting on the counter, and a bowl of grains quietly soaking by the sink. To some folks that looks like a lot of fuss. To me, it looks like coming home — back to the patient, old-fashioned way of feeding a family that people simply knew before the age of boxes and drive-throughs. I’ve fallen head over heels for the nourishing old ways, and I want to tell you why.
My love of this started with two questions: why, and how. The “why” came from a couple of old classics that shaped how I think about food — Dr. Weston A. Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the work of Dr. Francis Pottenger. In his travels, Price documented traditional communities around the world eating their ancestral, whole-food diets and observed how robust their health seemed — and how things shifted when modern processed foods arrived. Whatever one makes of every detail, the big idea stuck with me and rings true: the closer our food stays to the way it comes in nature, the better our bodies tend to do.
The “how” came from a cookbook that has been my kitchen companion for years: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. If the old ways of cooking feel like a lost language to you, this is the book that teaches you to speak it — how to soak grains so they’re gentler on your tummy, how to simmer rich broths from bones, and how to make your own fermented foods. I recommend it to almost everyone who takes one of my classes and asks, “Okay… but where do I even start?”
And oh, the fun we’ve had learning it as a family. There is nothing like a pot of homemade bone broth — deeply savory, full of minerals and gelatin, and about the most comforting thing I know to sip on a tired day. Then there are the fermented foods: tangy sauerkraut, spicy kimchi, creamy kefir, and ruby-red beet kvass. Fermenting is a little bit like magic — you’re inviting the good bacteria to do their ancient work, and what you get back is food alive with natural probiotics and enzymes that many of us feel just plain good eating. My kids have gone from wrinkling their noses to actually asking for a forkful of kraut, which still makes me laugh.
Most of the wisest food advice in the world isn’t new at all. It’s just the patient, humble way people fed each other for thousands of years.
There’s a bigger reason all of this fascinates me, too. Science is only beginning to catch up to what grandmothers seemed to sense in their bones: that the gut is astonishingly important. We each carry trillions of tiny microbes in our digestive tract, and researchers are increasingly intrigued by how much those little helpers seem to influence — not just digestion, but possibly our mood, our energy, and our overall sense of wellbeing. This whole field of the “gut connection” is young and still unfolding, but it’s genuinely hopeful, and it’s part of why tending our gut with real, fermented, nourishing food feels so worthwhile to me. I’ve been reading in this area lately — including Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a physician who writes about the gut and has a real passion for broths and fermented vegetables — and while some of these deeper protocols are quite involved, the simple heart of it always leads me back to the same humble place: eat real food, and be good to your gut.
Now let me slip in a couple of caring, honest words, because I love you and I’d never want to lead you astray. The gut science is exciting but still emerging, so I’d hold the big “this heals everything” claims loosely — and any very restrictive healing diet, especially for a child or anyone with a medical condition, is something to walk into gently and ideally alongside a doctor or a registered dietitian, so no one ends up missing nutrients they need. And this one matters most of all: if you or your little one has a true food allergy, please treat it as the serious thing it is. Get it properly diagnosed and managed with your doctor or an allergist, and never reintroduce a food you’re allergic to hoping you’ve somehow “healed” past it — a real allergy can be dangerous, even life-threatening, and no diet is a substitute for real allergy care. Nourishing food is a beautiful thing to add to your life; it works right alongside your doctor, never instead of them.
But here’s the joyful truth: you don’t need a fancy protocol or a perfect plan to begin. You can start this very week. Simmer a humble pot of broth from the bones of your Sunday chicken. Buy (or brave making!) a jar of real sauerkraut and add a forkful to dinner. Soak your oats tonight for tomorrow’s breakfast. One small, old-fashioned, nourishing thing at a time — that’s the whole secret, and it always has been.
“Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
— Jeremiah 6:16
With much love,
Steffanie
A caring note: I’m a wellness educator and a mom sharing the foods and books I love — not a doctor or dietitian, and nothing here is medical or nutritional advice. Traditional foods like broth and fermented vegetables are nourishing and wonderful to enjoy, but they aren’t a treatment or cure for any disease. Restrictive healing diets should be undertaken carefully, ideally with a qualified professional, especially for children or anyone with a health condition — and true food allergies always need proper medical diagnosis and management. Please do what’s right for your own family, and talk with your doctor about your individual needs.
— Jeremiah 6:16
With much love,
Steffanie
A caring note: I’m a wellness educator and a mom sharing the foods and books I love — not a doctor or dietitian, and nothing here is medical or nutritional advice. Traditional foods like broth and fermented vegetables are nourishing and wonderful to enjoy, but they aren’t a treatment or cure for any disease. Restrictive healing diets should be undertaken carefully, ideally with a qualified professional, especially for children or anyone with a health condition — and true food allergies always need proper medical diagnosis and management. Please do what’s right for your own family, and talk with your doctor about your individual needs.
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