I found myself in a quaint little town called Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which is the home to Dickinson College; a liberal arts college which has a huge focus on sustainability in terms of both its infrastructure and educational content. A big contributor to the college's sustainability efforts is their links to Dickinson Farm; a 50 acre organic farm owned and run by Jenn Halpin and Matt Steiman. Not only do Jenn and Matt run an educational program for many of the students at the college, they have internship and apprenticeship programs and provide extremely high quality produce to the college and students via their very successful CSA program. I was lucky enough to arrange a catch up and overnight stay with Jenn and Matt out at their farm, and also got to meet a bunch of students who volunteer for the 'weed and feed' activity that they hold each Friday. I'll be uploading a blog about what I discovered during this extremely inspiring and fun catch up...so stay tunned.
I actually arrived the day before our meeting, so I was lucky enough soak up a lil bit of luxury with a night at Carlisle House; a gorgeous little B&B run by husband and wife, Alan and Mary Duxbury (highly recommend this little home away from home, for anyone who finds themselves in Carlisle!) and an absolutely deliciously refreshing meal at an organic restaurant called the Green Room. Whilst it was very much by chance that I ended up there in the first place, it was such an unexpectedly enjoyable experience on a number of levels, that I wanted to take a moment to share it with everyone.
When I arrived, I was greeted by my waitress for the evening, Kristiana, who turned out to be a student at Dickinson College, in her third year of Environmental Science, with a major focus on food and agriculture. It was lovely chatting with Kristiana as not only was she very knowledgeable about the composition of the various meals on the menu, she also had a sound knowledge of exactly where all of the ingredients came from around the region. I could tell she was really passionate about people knowing and having confidence in where the food they were serving came from, and she felt proud to be working for The Green Room for this very reason. As a consumer, it was so comforting to know that what I was eating was not only grown sustainably and organically (so ridiculously health for me!) it was supporting the local economy and environment too.
When I opened the menu I was greeted with a modest but more than adequate list of meal options, all of which made from simple and delicious, locally sourced organic ingredients. It was so refreshing to see a menu which had been developed based on whatever was in season and whatever the chef was able to access within the local region that week.
I ended up choosing a delicious broccoli and basil soup that had a hint of spice and was so ridiculously tasty, accompanied by two slices of homemade gluten free, grainy bread and locally produced butter (which, can I just say was out of this world... I could genuinely taste the difference). I accompanied this refreshing meal with a glass of 'green juice'; which was a combination of a variety of fresh greens (whatever was available that week), cucumber, apple and ginger. I then topped it all off with a slice of their vegan cheesecake; made from mainly pureed cashew nuts (!) with an almond and honey base. It too was insanely good!
One of the best and most refreshing parts about this meal (aside from the blissful happiness experienced by my taste buds!) were the modest serving sizes. They were much smaller then I have received anywhere else and I will admit, my instinctive reaction at first was, "hmmmm is that going to be enough". I then stopped to think about my thought process, to realise that I too had become really accustomed to seeing these ridiculously large portions placed in front of me. It turned out, the amount I was served was more than enough to satisfy my hunger and you know what, I found myself eating much slower and savouring and enjoying the delicious meal placed in front of me, instead of thoughtlessly hoeing into it, the way I often find myself eating these days.
While I enjoyed and savoured this inspiring meal, I thought about what drives me to eat so quickly and unconsciously. On reflection, I think it's probably because I'm subconsciously thinking if I eat too slowly or stop to savour it, it will give my body time to register that I'm full, and how the hell am I going to get through the massive meal in front of me if I allow that to happen? It's quite ridiculous, because but in actual fact, giving by body the time to recognise that I'm not hungry anymore is EXACTLY what I should be allowing it to do. Not only is it my best defense against over eating it also allows for the optimal digestion, extraction and absorption of the nutrients within the meal.
I chatted to Kristiana about this after my meal and she said that portion size is probably the one comment (or complaint) she often has to deal with from people who come to the restaurant. The crazy thing is though, my guess is that not a single person would leave that restaurant feeling hungry and it just goes to show, that in order for many of us to feel satisfied these days, we must feel 'full' rather than 'comfortable, without a sensation of hunger'. Sometimes I think instead of asking ourselves "do I feel full" in order to determine if we are hungry anymore, is the wrong question to be asking. Instead, maybe if we asked ourselves "do I feel hungry anymore", and stop eating when the hunger signals have ceased, we would find ourselves eating more appropriate amounts of food.
Additionally, in the case of dining out, I think our perception of 'value' has shifted from the 'quality' of the food we receive to the 'quantity' of it. There is no doubt, restaurants have played a significant role in this and I therefore think, they have a key role to play in helping us to revert our sense of 'value' back to quality of the food served; from both nutrient and origin perspectives.
My sense is, however, that I don't think I'm too left field in saying that the habit of eating too much, too quickly is something many of us can attest to. What is encouraging though, is that it's certainly a mentality we can easily reverse by changing our perspective and perception of 'value' and redefining what is 'normal' about our serving sizes and eating practices. And I think, this is certainly something restaurants can play a really positive role in helping us re-create this balance for our bodies and our environment.
Interestingly, when I went to bed that night, I slept like a baby and I feel quite sure it was because I'd not eaten past my limits and everything I ate was 'real' and made from natural, wholesome ingredients. The entire experience was also so inspiring and satisfying that it certainly gave me a wonderful sense of hope, that changing this seemingly warped world off food we are living in right now, could be possible if we rekindle this sense of 'satiety awareness' and encourage restaurants to serve us smaller portions from seasonal and local suppliers (where possible). By eating this way, we create the demand for the development of a food system that can provide us delicious, locally sourced, seasonal and appropriately sized meals in restaurants... and with the amount we, as a society, eat out, this is a huge piece to the sustainable food system puzzle in my mind.
So following this incredibly satisfying and inspiring meal, I'm certainly going to go out of my way to find places who serve food this way and make sure I support them. Not only am I also going to eat till I'm satisfied, I'm going to be brave and ask where various components of my meal have come from and if they know under what conditions it's been produced. This is something I really encourage everyone to do, because whilst we can be sure there will be many a wait person/restaurant who doesn't know this information and will find these requests frustrating and confronting, the more we ask the more they will need to know about and be accountable for, the food they are serving us... and the more comfortable we can feel about the food that's about to enter our bodies!
www.dickinson.edu
www.thecarlislehouse.com
www.blogs.dickinson.edu/farm
www.thegreenroom.us
I actually arrived the day before our meeting, so I was lucky enough soak up a lil bit of luxury with a night at Carlisle House; a gorgeous little B&B run by husband and wife, Alan and Mary Duxbury (highly recommend this little home away from home, for anyone who finds themselves in Carlisle!) and an absolutely deliciously refreshing meal at an organic restaurant called the Green Room. Whilst it was very much by chance that I ended up there in the first place, it was such an unexpectedly enjoyable experience on a number of levels, that I wanted to take a moment to share it with everyone.
When I arrived, I was greeted by my waitress for the evening, Kristiana, who turned out to be a student at Dickinson College, in her third year of Environmental Science, with a major focus on food and agriculture. It was lovely chatting with Kristiana as not only was she very knowledgeable about the composition of the various meals on the menu, she also had a sound knowledge of exactly where all of the ingredients came from around the region. I could tell she was really passionate about people knowing and having confidence in where the food they were serving came from, and she felt proud to be working for The Green Room for this very reason. As a consumer, it was so comforting to know that what I was eating was not only grown sustainably and organically (so ridiculously health for me!) it was supporting the local economy and environment too.
When I opened the menu I was greeted with a modest but more than adequate list of meal options, all of which made from simple and delicious, locally sourced organic ingredients. It was so refreshing to see a menu which had been developed based on whatever was in season and whatever the chef was able to access within the local region that week.
I ended up choosing a delicious broccoli and basil soup that had a hint of spice and was so ridiculously tasty, accompanied by two slices of homemade gluten free, grainy bread and locally produced butter (which, can I just say was out of this world... I could genuinely taste the difference). I accompanied this refreshing meal with a glass of 'green juice'; which was a combination of a variety of fresh greens (whatever was available that week), cucumber, apple and ginger. I then topped it all off with a slice of their vegan cheesecake; made from mainly pureed cashew nuts (!) with an almond and honey base. It too was insanely good!
One of the best and most refreshing parts about this meal (aside from the blissful happiness experienced by my taste buds!) were the modest serving sizes. They were much smaller then I have received anywhere else and I will admit, my instinctive reaction at first was, "hmmmm is that going to be enough". I then stopped to think about my thought process, to realise that I too had become really accustomed to seeing these ridiculously large portions placed in front of me. It turned out, the amount I was served was more than enough to satisfy my hunger and you know what, I found myself eating much slower and savouring and enjoying the delicious meal placed in front of me, instead of thoughtlessly hoeing into it, the way I often find myself eating these days.
While I enjoyed and savoured this inspiring meal, I thought about what drives me to eat so quickly and unconsciously. On reflection, I think it's probably because I'm subconsciously thinking if I eat too slowly or stop to savour it, it will give my body time to register that I'm full, and how the hell am I going to get through the massive meal in front of me if I allow that to happen? It's quite ridiculous, because but in actual fact, giving by body the time to recognise that I'm not hungry anymore is EXACTLY what I should be allowing it to do. Not only is it my best defense against over eating it also allows for the optimal digestion, extraction and absorption of the nutrients within the meal.
I chatted to Kristiana about this after my meal and she said that portion size is probably the one comment (or complaint) she often has to deal with from people who come to the restaurant. The crazy thing is though, my guess is that not a single person would leave that restaurant feeling hungry and it just goes to show, that in order for many of us to feel satisfied these days, we must feel 'full' rather than 'comfortable, without a sensation of hunger'. Sometimes I think instead of asking ourselves "do I feel full" in order to determine if we are hungry anymore, is the wrong question to be asking. Instead, maybe if we asked ourselves "do I feel hungry anymore", and stop eating when the hunger signals have ceased, we would find ourselves eating more appropriate amounts of food.
Additionally, in the case of dining out, I think our perception of 'value' has shifted from the 'quality' of the food we receive to the 'quantity' of it. There is no doubt, restaurants have played a significant role in this and I therefore think, they have a key role to play in helping us to revert our sense of 'value' back to quality of the food served; from both nutrient and origin perspectives.
My sense is, however, that I don't think I'm too left field in saying that the habit of eating too much, too quickly is something many of us can attest to. What is encouraging though, is that it's certainly a mentality we can easily reverse by changing our perspective and perception of 'value' and redefining what is 'normal' about our serving sizes and eating practices. And I think, this is certainly something restaurants can play a really positive role in helping us re-create this balance for our bodies and our environment.
Interestingly, when I went to bed that night, I slept like a baby and I feel quite sure it was because I'd not eaten past my limits and everything I ate was 'real' and made from natural, wholesome ingredients. The entire experience was also so inspiring and satisfying that it certainly gave me a wonderful sense of hope, that changing this seemingly warped world off food we are living in right now, could be possible if we rekindle this sense of 'satiety awareness' and encourage restaurants to serve us smaller portions from seasonal and local suppliers (where possible). By eating this way, we create the demand for the development of a food system that can provide us delicious, locally sourced, seasonal and appropriately sized meals in restaurants... and with the amount we, as a society, eat out, this is a huge piece to the sustainable food system puzzle in my mind.
So following this incredibly satisfying and inspiring meal, I'm certainly going to go out of my way to find places who serve food this way and make sure I support them. Not only am I also going to eat till I'm satisfied, I'm going to be brave and ask where various components of my meal have come from and if they know under what conditions it's been produced. This is something I really encourage everyone to do, because whilst we can be sure there will be many a wait person/restaurant who doesn't know this information and will find these requests frustrating and confronting, the more we ask the more they will need to know about and be accountable for, the food they are serving us... and the more comfortable we can feel about the food that's about to enter our bodies!
www.dickinson.edu
www.thecarlislehouse.com
www.blogs.dickinson.edu/farm
www.thegreenroom.us
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