Day 29: Variety is the Spice of Life

I enjoy food (as most dietitians do) and I enjoy cooking. This means we're often trying new ideas, tools/methods, ingredients or recipes in our kitchen. We've also been introducing food to our daughter over the past 5 months, so that has kept us thinking about different things to have her try. We do also enjoy eating out and trying different restaurants. If we go out (which is less these days, now that we're parents), it would be for food that we don't make or don't make often, thus it's often ethnic cuisine.

I don't love every food, my husband has a few that he enjoys that I'm not as fond of (oysters, blue cheese, olives). I also don't always make great things in the kitchen, sometimes new ideas flop. We try to find recipes with comments and suggestions so that we can learn from others, but we don't all like the same things either.

I think it's great to have access to many foods. There are varieties in Saskatoon that I don't remember seeing as a child and some foods are now available all year round. We're able to buy fresh, frozen, or canned items and often the store has what we're looking for. I know not everyone has that luxury. I travel to some small communities with my work and see the lack of choices, or even the lack of a store, or high prices that can be limiting.

I am walking distance from groceries, which I love. I can go for a walk to grab a few items I need. I also don't have to eat the same things as my husband or daughter, if I don't want to. We don't have allergies or other dietary restrictions, so for us it's just a matter of preference. As she gets older and starts talking, our daughter may let us know more about her likes and dislikes, but so far we're pretty lucky, like us, she likes food and hasn't had a bad reaction to any of it.

I am grateful for: access to a wide variety of foods

As a Canadian I enjoy being able to eat Italian, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, East Indian, and locally sourced foods. I love to travel and part of that is definitely to try other/new foods.

Try something new or pull out an old favourite that you've forgotten about, explore the world of flavours available to you!
Steph Langdon, RD
www.nutrishus.com