Pancakes 101; or, “What´s up with the food blog?”

I know that some visitors to my blog will find it as a “food blog,” but other visitors (family, friends, people interested in Peace Corps, random hits, etc.) might be confused as to why I decided to make food a crucial part of this blog. The reasons are myriad and I will explain my food and health philosophy here.

1. I love food. I have always loved to eat but have never really paid much mind to it before moving to Africa. I ate healthy some of the time; other days I could put away half a pizza by myself along with a couple liters of beer and a few boxes of cookies. But generally speaking I never felt unhealthy, and just kind of ate what I wanted.
2. My fascination with food and cooking started when I moved to Africa where there is nothing. To be completely honest, I am really lucky in my town, as there is an expat supermarket which stocks various imported items from South Africa including some produce, meats, and cheeses. Occasionally special things will show up, but then they disappear never to come back again. Learning to live without many things created a fascination with food and an appreciation for all that we have available to us in America.
3. I never thought too much about “healthy eating” until it was made difficult. When I first moved to Mozambique, I was living with a family and subsiding on a diet of oily eggs and grease-drenched potatoes and bread for breakfast, cookies for a snack, pasta dripping with grease plus a piece of bread for lunch, and rice for dinner, maybe with a fried fish or piece of fried something else. Fruits and vegetables and whole grain products were all but completely absent from this standard Mozambican diet. This “deprivation” and the changes I felt in my body (more sluggish, less healthy, craving veggies that I didn´t even use to like, etc.) caused me to start get interested in nutrition.
4. Along those lines, I never had to work for a healthy lifestyle before–it just happened. I was eating fresh foods, fruits, sushi, lean meats, whole wheat products, etc. back in the States, and was so active in my day-to-day life in LA that the occasional (or sometimes frequent) days of pizza, booze, and 600-calorie coffee drinks multiple times a day never had an effect. Here, eating a different diet and moving to a much more sedentary life (I have an 8-5 office job) forced me to reprioritize pursuing health instead of it just coming naturally.
5. Cliché but still true: Moderation is key. It is easy to go to extremes when it comes to food. I love me my desserts and gallon sized bowls of cereal. I don´t (or I guess I should say, I shouldn´t) eat those every day, but I think a life where you feel guilty for an hour after eating the cookie sounds horrible. I am very curious in how to healthify my lifestyle in creative, fun, and tasty ways, while still being able to eat what I want. Food is awesome.
6. Before Africa, I had no idea how to cook. I didn´t do much (read: any) cooking in high school, and then I lived on-campus for four years at UCLA due to my involvement in Residential Life. With the “best dorm food in the nation,” I was pretty much set, with everything from sandwiches to salads to asian, mexican, and thai food, to pizza, desserts and burgers, to the Coffee Bean (and pastries!) constantly available to me. My one summer in an apartment, was spent blowing money at restaurants, and coming home from the grocery store with Pop-Tarts, Lean Pockets and a bottle of Absolut. Nothing resembling culinary genius. Coming here to Mozambique, I have slowly learned my way around a kitchen (albeit very clumsily) and am exploring learning to cook despite having access to healthy staples, well-functioning kitchen equippment and other important resources. I still know next to nothing, but am enjoying the ride.
7. I started reading food blogs when I became interested in food and nutrition and it inspired me to start my own. I don´t think I will ever post everything I eat–that´s not the idea–but I love food blogs for the inspiration and ideas they give me (when it is stuff I could potentially make here!) and gets me excited for all the possibilities when I come back home.
8. I am not a traditional health or food blogger, if that is not obvious already. I not only completely fail at taking pictures of food, but I have also never made a green monster, never tasted almond butter (!), never cooked quinoa, never made my own sweet-potato fries, or eaten amazing grass, or tried half of the amazing creations that foodie bloggers continually feature. Reason: It is not possible here! I cannot WAIT to experiment with all these fun and healthy creations when I get home in December. But for now, this is the Africa version. And having the blog is fun motivation for me to make an effort in the (very limited) kitchen!
9. I have one cookbook and it is from Peace Corps. Comprised of recipes submitted by Volunteers, that are thus well-suited to a culinary-deprived life, it has been a good introduction for a total beginner, as well as providing key pieces of advice such as “Use a fine strainer to get worms out of market flour”, and ”to get ants out of sugar, spread it in a pan and leave it in the hot sun for fifteen minutes”. I don´t think you learn THAT in The Joy of Cooking! : ) I´ve also been poking around online for recipes, but it can be hard. Every time I see something like “canned pumpkin” or “egg whites” or “cooking spray” or “simmer” (my stove temp. is unadjustable), part of me dies inside.

So there you have it… the story behind “Pancakes.” I am learning slowly, and you´ll never see me cooking something impressive, but every attempt is a learning experience : )

simple. yummy. subpar photography. the essence of P&P... for now the photos will get better... and so will the cooking.