You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.
Julia Child
An integral part of slow living is the slow food movement. Today we can get food from anywhere in the world at the big box grocery chain. But, that means we have very little connection to real food. Unless you are able to grow your own food or access local growers, it is rare to even recall the taste of fresh ingredients. I long for the tomatoes I enjoyed while growing up – fresh from the garden with a little salt and pepper. Trying to replicate it from the grocery store, the taste comes up short.
I am determined to bring real food back into my life. It will take time to develop the skills and cultivate a garden plot at home but I can start where I am. And so can you.
You can read more about the slow food movement here.
Learning the Art of Slow Food
When I decided live slowly, I gathered as much information on the topic as I could. From the research, I created a 4 week slow living challenge. Join me as I take you and me through a different slow living principle each week. As I write this, I am implementing each change and challenge into my life right along with you. You can read more about my call to slow down here.
During the first week of the challenge, we will learned how to shift our mindset. If you missed it you can find it here.
This week, we focus on slow food and how we can use this essential part of living to help train us to slow down and appreciate real food and hospitality again.
Ready to start?
Slow Food Challenge
Week Two – Slow Food
Below you will find a graphic for each day. Clicking on the graphic will jump you to the section of the page with the instructions or inspiration for each activity.
P.S. Make adjustments to the prompts as you see fit. Have fun with it. This is all about how you are able to fit slow living into your life. The only rule is that you try to enjoy the moment!
Day Eight – Reflect on your Relationship with Food
Ah, food. The thing we have learned to love and hate at the same time. We have been trained to think of all foods as good or bad. We have settled into an eat this, not that culture and forgot what we should really be focusing on – just real food obtained as close to the source as possible.
If you are anything like me, your relationship with food has been complicated. Moving from one fad diet to the next, the only time I really thought about food was in relation to my weight. I never really gave much thought to where my food was coming from or how eating it made me feel until recently.
Your challenge is to take a few minutes today and reflect on your relationship with food. Has it been complicated like mine? Do you try to source from local farms as often as possible? How does the food you eat compare to real food? Does it come out of a box, wrapped in plastic or do you mostly eat whole foods? Do you read food labels – can you even understand them? Do you like to eat or is it just something you have to do for survival? Is food often an afterthought for you or perhaps its always on your mind? Dive deep and really examine your relationship with food.
Day Nine – Eat Breakfast
Mornings are a rush for many and breakfast is often eaten “on the go” or not at all. When we do eat breakfast, many of the foods we choose are loaded with artificial this and chemical that. Oh, but they taste so good…right?
Your challenge today is simple. Eat a real food breakfast. You might have to wake up a bit early to do it but I am sure the energy you gain from nourishing your body and soul will more than make up for the lack of sleep. Try to steer clear from anything with more than 5 ingredients or better yet, eat things that would be deemed ingredients themselves. Think of what your grandparents might have eaten at the start of the day – oatmeal with berries and maple syrup, eggs and bacon, an omelet with veggies – you get the idea.
Want some inspiration? I compiled a go to whole food breakfast Pinterest board full of recipes.
Day 10 – Make a Slow Food Plan
Perhaps when you tried to do yesterday’s activity you discovered there was very little in your fridge or pantry that resembled a whole food breakfast. This is where investing a little bit of time one or two days a week can set you up for success.
Meal planning. We all know we should do it but it often gets forgotten about in our go-go-go life. We know planning meals and buying from the perimeter of the store rather than the freezer section will not only save us money but will make us and our families happier and healthier in the long run. But, we all seem to end up in the drive thru lane at some point.
Let’s start simple. Plan 3 dinners, 3 lunches, and 3 breakfasts that you can count on to be healthy, quick, and enjoyable. When you cook and prep these meals, make double (as best you can) and you have almost a weeks worth of meals in half the time. I absolutely love the leftover days when all I have to do is heat and serve. Some of my go-to’s include tacos (I prep twice the fixings we will need so the next day all we have to do is open up the fridge and it is all there waiting for us), salads (I love a big salad with lots of toppings), and omelets (I fry up a few days worth of veggies so making the omelet is as easy as cracking a couple of eggs).
Need help?
I created this simple meal planner printable for you.
Head on over to my Pinterest board for some mealtime inspiration.
Day 11 – Get Closer to the Source
Living where I do, Canada, it is difficult to buy locally grown for much of the year, but when the season comes you bet I am out there looking for those grown close to home peaches, berries, apples, and veggies.
Your challenge today, is to plan get closer to the source of where your food comes from. If it happens to be growing season where you are, plan to head out to a farmers market this week and meet some local producers. While their selection of veggies might cost a little more, you can rest in the fact it is packed with more vitamins than most of what you will find at the grocery store so consider it an investment in your health.
If it is the off season and there is no farmers market where you live right now, be conscious of what you are purchasing at the grocery store. Try of find something on your list that is farmed or produced closer to where you live and make the decision to search out that brand in the future. For example, choosing domestic maple syrup rather than imported.
Another way to eat closer to the source is to make do with what is in season closer to where you live. An example might be if you have the choice between a apple grown a few states or provinces over vs an orange grown across the ocean make the switch to keeping apples on hand at home rather than oranges right now.
When you are ready, take it a step further, and learn to grow a few herbs and lettuces on your window sill.
Day 12 – Enjoy a Meal by Candlelight
So far this week, we have be looking at the food itself. Now lets look at appreciating the act of eating.
As life gets busy, lingering over a meal has gone by the wayside. For this part of the challenge, I want you to make a ritual out of a meal. It doesn’t have to be dinner, just choose a meal when you have some time to really enjoy it.
As you prepare the meal, consider the ingredients. How do they smell or taste? How do the colors work together? Allow yourself to be fully present in the preparation of the meal.
When it is ready, set the table and light some candles. Then, sit down and eat consciously. Appreciate the tastes, smells, and textures of the food. If you are alone, be grateful for the quiet and let the calm wash over you. If you are eating with others, enjoy the conversations and share stories.
Day 13 – Show Gratitude
The separation between us and the people who grow our food tends to be wide. Today, as you eat, think about the people who farmed the ingredients, the ones who cooked and baked for us, and those who made it possible for us to bring the food into our kitchens.
Take a moment to give thanks to all the people along the line who had a part in the food you are eating. What do you discover? Is your list long or short? Do you know where your food came from? How hard is it for you to find out? What does that tell you?
Day 14 – Have Dinner with Friends
Our busy schedules often get in the way of taking time to nurture our relationships with friends and family. I once read a quote that went something like “If you don’t have time for what’s important, do less of what is not.” And that is where making time for the people in our life – an important part of living – will help us on our slow living journey.
So, make a date with friends or family to share a meal. Invite them over to cook together, eat together, laugh together and enjoy the break from the to do list.
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Jump to the rest of the Challenge
