Sunday, December 8, 2019

Dreams of Baby Food and the Park Slope Food Co-op

Reading two articles about how and what we eat got me thinking this week. The first was a New Yorker article about baby food - revealing things I wish I didn't know about bottled baby food and things I wish I did about getting babies to eat vegetables.

The second was a little dearer to my heart because it's about where I used to live in Park Slope. I never belonged to the co-op there, but still ate up every word of this New Yorker story on the Park Slope Co-op. 


It reminds me of stories about the early hippie co-operative farms, mixed in with the obsessiveness of the Rajneesh compound in Oregon.


I kept a serious distance between myself and the Slope Co-op, preferring the smaller stores with produce outside. I spent far too much on fresh fruit and tended to buy my dinner every day instead of shopping once a week for it, but I wasn't eating much anyway.


In fact, since I was acting and auditioning almost daily, I was obsessively, reflexively counting calories and ridiculously proud of the fact that I didn't eat nearly enough to stay alive. On the other hand, folklore about the Slope Co-op was legendary. I think I went in there once and looked at the people cutting cheese. I nearly fainted, seeing all they had to do, and went right out again.


If I should ever become rich enough to move back there (and if I had the money I probably would) -- I don't think I'd join the Co-op then either, but maybe, for the prices I would, if I had the time. It's just a little too chock full of drama for me, though; being a playwright I tend to like my drama on the page and stage, not life. And a typical quote from the article reads, "This is a lot of angst over bananas."


I hear you, loud and clear.


On the other hand, I wish I had known more about making your own baby food when my son was young, because using Gerber or Gerber-like foods probably set him on the road to eating processed food that is never, ever good for any of us, even remotely. I used to think people who cared about such things were overdoing it, but I don't any more.


At this point, I mainly tell my son not to eat stuff with chemicals in it that he can't pronounce, and take that advice myself. He looks good and works out and all seems well, but admits he doesn't always take that advice. I get it. Now and again I want a brownie so badly I would lie down in the street screaming to get one. Probably more than now and again.


This time of year, everyone, and I mean everyone including dogs, cats and caterpillars, are making holiday cookies. Again, since I'm trying to swear off sugar, I won't go near them, and because I can't contribute cookies to our holiday party I won't get any either. That seems a little Park Slopish, but I understand, and why would I want to go to a holiday party where I can't eat anything?


The solution, I think, lies somewhere between not making my own baby food when my son was little, and being the kind of eater I always should have been. Nonetheless, I'm craving M & M cookies and gingerbread houses, along with drizzles of chocolate on popcorn, that I always crave as soon as December rolls around.


Perhaps the antidote is to look for short skirts and bathing suits? Not that I can even imagine spring at this point. I guess the moral of the story is that eating is complicated, and if you don't start doing it right early in life, you may get the hang of it but you'll never be happy about it.


Then again, things could be worse and you could belong to the Park Slope Food Co-op. Though, hey, if you're buying, I'd never turn a brownstone down.


Couple articles and videos I found on how to make your own baby food:


How to make ORGANIC baby food


27 Easy DIY Baby Foods


DIY Organic Baby Food on a Budget



Food Coop Photo: John


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