Diets. (Sigh, roll of the eyes). Everyone seems to be on them right now. My parents. My girlfriend (and thus by extension me). I hate diets. Or rather, I love food, and I distinctly dislike anything that impedes me from eating it in the way I want. I write a lot about culinary travel so being able to romp down my own personal road of foodie adventures without being restrained is important. But now of course there are these things called superfoods. Another of them is seemingly discovered every month. A magical grain, or a berry with powers of longevity.
I had my reservations about superfoods in the beginning. They appeared to be taking my road of culinary discovery alarmingly far away from those lovely way-stations of “cheese”, “wine”, “chocolate”, “coffee” and the like. But what they signify to me now is diet without any sighing or eye-rolling. Embarking on a quest to find out about cloudberries in Finland or skrei in Norway, as I had to do for my contributions to Lonely Planet’s newest reference title, The World’s Best Superfoods (just out), was fun because these healthy foods had fascinating stories behind them, and illumination of particular aspects of a country’s culture behind them. Skrei, for example, became more than just another boring steamed fish meal. It was a fish with a tale!
I also very much liked writing about Scandinavian superfoods for this book, because traditional Scandy staples are still not known even in the aftermath of Noma and the region’s glut of Michelin stars (not compared to the dishes of Italy or France). It’s known Scandinavians eat well. It is not known what they traditionally ate/eat to feel well… or why…
Find out more about/buy The World’s Best Superfoods
Categories: Culinary Travel, Scandinavia Travel, Travel/Reference Books
Luke and his Words... 