Food for Thought

Anyone who knows me know that I am a firm believer that healthy food IS flavorful food and nothing sums that up more than my recent trip to the International Vegetarian Food Festival at the Capitol Memorial Church in DC. I guess I’ll start out by saying that I got there on a whim. A friend of a friend cut out a little ad posted in the Washington Post about some vegetarian festival. My friend casually mentioned that she had wished she could go. There was little detail other than the address and starting time so I thought I would go and check it out, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Boy was I pleasantly surprised!

The International Vegetarian Food Fest is like taking a trip around the world to eat. The congregation of the Capital Memorial Church come from all over the world and share a deep history in their food and a passion for health and life. At the festival, members of the congregation prepare dishes that come from their native countries, their family cookbooks and their own kitchen pots and serve them up for all who come to try. I will admit I was a bit overwhelmed at first.

There were halls divided into regions and in each region there were many dishes to try. The regions were Africa, Asia, India, Caribbean, North America, Latin America and Europe. Some countries shared recipes that just happen to be vegetarian ( like the many different takes on rice and beans or curry) while others put a vegetarian twist on a traditional recipe (like Tofu Pacit from the Philippines or baked empanadas filled with TVP). But no matter how they served it up, no dish lacked flavor. I use a lot of spices in my food and I love to come up with different combinations but I can honestly tell you I learned more in the 3 hours I spent at this festival than I have in the years of playing around in the kitchen.

Each food dish had a new and different flavor combination., a play on spices that I hadn’t thought of. The few that truly stand out in my mind is the Ginger Beer in the Caribbean ( it uses ginger, cinnamon, clove, bay and Vanilla) Black beans in Latin America ( that uses carrot, eggplant and other veggies!) and a Split Pea sauce from Ethiopia. I loved seeing how each culture can take something so humble as a bean and put their own flavor spin on it to turn it into a dish so unique of that country. Of course I didn’t leave without picking up a copy of their recipes which I can’t wait to start recreating in my own kitchen.

While I left very full, I have to say the most incredible thing about today was talking to everyone there. Those who made dishes had such pride in the food they were serving. It is more than food, it is their history that they were sharing. There wasn’t a “you must convert to being a vegetarian” message, in fact I didn’t really hear anyone talk about being a vegetarian at all. I did hear them talk about being happy to share their food and being thankful to get to meet new people in the community. I left Capitol Memorial Church full, excited at all the new things I had gotten to try, and feeling like I had just spent an afternoon with good friends.

The lesson here today is healthy living is about eating food that tastes great AND is great for you, its about working towards a healthier community, be it from sharing your food or just reaching out to talk with one another. There is a connection between what we eat, how we live and who lives around us and this event was a great reminder of that. Thank you to everyone at Capitol Memorial Church and to everyone who has been a part of this online community. Lets keep our community strong and out commitment to healthy living even stronger! P.S. I’m already gearing up for next year’s Festival, who’s joining me?!