My mum`s foodprint

Lets`s try to be, to get or at least to think sustainable. Whatever it may be, as I get through the holidays, I notice that quite some people are focusing on the subject of sustainability. And that`s for the better. The more I cook, eat and think about food the more I feel conscious about food processing. Feeding my family and studying the allergy issues since the last 12 years with Solange, the more I know that we were since long thinking in a more healthy and kind of sustainable way about food. My first awareness about food has been developed by my mum as she happened to be an avant-la-lettre in the field of knowledge about food and pointing out the relation between food and a healthy body. Although I remember plates sprinkled with gravy, those memories go back very long ago. The real thing I do remember about my youth, is the responsability she transferred to my siblings and myself about feeding ourselves. And taking food seriously was for her directly linked with eating less meat, lots of vegetables and fruit and avoiding animal fat in general. No sauces, no butter and no mayonnaise. The average amount of meat my mother served us, as children and later as young adults, was never more than 75 gram daily and there were days without meat. Although the dishes weren`t so large in variety and the design was often like meat, vegetables and potatoes or rice (pasta became much later an ingredient of the diet) and a dessert of yoghurt with fresh fruit, I truly believe in the thoughts behind her diet. As she worked for years with cancer patients in different clinics in The Netherlands, she must have become anxious about health and even if the topic of food and health wasn`t something bothering many people, my mother was aware. I should really try to get notes from her about this issue and write more about it. Speaking with a friend last week - he works for an international organisation and is through his work focused on the undeveloped countries and populations - he mentioned that this food issue about less meat and so on isn`t really keeping him busy. And yes it is so true that the meat production in general on our planet is not the problem of the Africans nor the Asians. And I do agree with him that animals are serving mankind and not vica versa. So in the end I think there is this list of really interesting issues to discuss and to study more deeply: how should we feed ourselves in a healthy way? The way we feed ourselves has undeniable consequences for the planet. The production processes are destructive (you`l know after watching the film Food Inc.) and yet with millions of more people to feed in the near future how can we feed all these humans? The fact is that everything is so connencted to each of the elements of the chain. It is all about a new pyramid. And still the old one from Maslow is so actual.

Gingerbread Village

Leaving Rabat for the holidays. Most people we know here in Rabat, seem to travel and are more or less looking for spots with snow. The girls do request white landscapes. Solange remarked that the decorations were not as eye catching in the city of Lausanne as she thought they would. In Olliet, a small French village, 90 habitants, in the L´Ain department close to Geneve we overlooked the Mont Blanc. The sisters revisited Olliet to construct together with their three friends an amazing nice gingerbread village. A village almost as small as Olliet: dream houses, farms and mansions. Thoughts how to put on the roofs, designing light architecture became mathematical issues. Our host was well prepared, all the props were there. Colored candies, pearls, small figures and wooden sticks were all present at the table. The five girls and the boy made drawings for their own project and the gingerbread dough was house made and baked in advance. The small paltform next to the stairs changed into a working spot of an architecture office. In the evening construction elements of all different buildings were nicely laying side by side on baking paper, waiting for the next day. Windows were filled with melted sweets which gave them a glass painted look, magnificent. White snow frosting served as cement to put walls and bricks together. After two days the village was set up on a small black dark wooden table from Africa in it´s first design. The setting will be adapted and finished in the next week. Our friends plan to bring the village, after the holidays, to their school in Geneva. Solange felt good all the time although a little bit sniffy. She took some medications to keep here nose open. Solange´s friends told her at the beginning of our stay, they scanned the house for peanuts and nuts. Mission completed and full clearance. The house smelt after gingerbread. Good memories go together with the smell of good old home made ingredients and recipes.

Foodprint USA - Home

Foodprint USA - Home

All places, all food

It is the season apparently. Every year in december I feel we are getting ready for another absorbing twelfth month. Probably because we like to start with a blank sheet at the first of january. The rush is amazing. Last moment appoinments, just in case we won´t meet before Christmas. Dinner parties, baby welcome aperitifs, good bye parties and auditions.
A nice occasion one of these december evenings: hanging out with some adults, kids, enjoying nice food.
One girl with us, two are invited elsewhere. Today was a long day of driving between agenda´s and appointments. Socializing divided by five and multiplied by invitations becomes a fulltime buziness. 
It is nice to zap from house to house and share food and drinks in differents settings. Taste and interior differ and it is true that one can´t argue too much about taste. All places, all food: fish soup, Italian dessert, German white wine, christmas cookies and small aperitifs from a traiteur in Rabat. As my maid explains it, the average traiteur comes with an assortment of small pieces of food that suits the average European. I am a European but I don´t like the foodprint they put on me.
During the night I filter the images of the last week and see the faces again of all the people I met. Socializing is interesting when you can have it in small portions. I have a last visitor, but she is a real personage. It´s Belle who comes in my bedroom with tears and a swollen lip. She has an allergic reaction. I´ll give her the claritine medication and she rolls herself up in the bed.
As this happens to be the second food related reaction for Belle this month, I´ll need to check with the allergist about Belle. Are we having a second child with food allergies? Let´s have a healthy night sleep and see things clear in the morning.

Hi, I am allergic

A sleepover, new friends. Asking or even claiming a parent to come along to give an explanation to these folks  about her allergies. New friends, new strategy?
'I am not going to tell them, myself.' OK that sounds as a good opening sentence.
'We want you to be the one to tell about your health, the specific diet: yourself'.
Has allergy something to do with power. Could it be that an allergy girl gets completely fed up with the fact of being allergic? And the need to tell the story again and again? Is it about peers? Do they, or do they just not, get the message? Is it about feeling annoyed to explain the food  issue with the parents of your friends? Is it just about teasing your parents?  Should we be more persistent and tell her that she is in charge and responsible for her body, health and food. We took off anyway and brought the girls to their new friends. Solange's dad explained and talked about peanuts and nuts in general. We could register our story and some recipes as backup for all those new friends from Solange. To make it for everybody easier. And this could be really fun.

Parents, kids, worries

This month is particular about food. So we will have to make some plans and lists before travelling and sitting down for dinners and aperitifs here and there. Although we will be eating with friends and they are all aware of Solange's food diet, I will make sure everything will be eatable for Solange. We had some socializing last weekend and met with new and old friends. I received a similar reaction as some time ago: her allergy isn't so bad. OK. It's always important to place one's worries or problems in a reasonable perspective, so if Solange allergy is my problem than I should try to place it in a larger context and conclude that it isn't so desperate as I think it is. The discussion is interesting and not ended.

There was a woman who has a daughter who spends hours in front of the mirror before leaving for a rendez vous with peers. Another parent told, she deals with daughters who are apparently now and then recognized as boys, she wass really cool about this all. In fact these kids seem to feel both happy in a kind of boy's outfit. So there we were, three parents with all daughters and all facing completely different worries with our daughters. Is one of these issues more or less important? Maybe not. I do think, that suffering from food allergies is connected to health and therefor to social events and this means, you can't ignore the large impact.

Solange's energy

Saint Nicolas seems to be a never ending happening. Staying at the house of my sister in Amsterdam, the girls are having a sleepover with their two cousins. In the evening they put their shoes in front of a Chinese cupboard in the living room. By lack of a chimney this red piece of Chinese antique serves this goal perfectly well. Five shoes on a row, carrots for the horse and a whole repertoire of songs for Saint Nicolas. Anne Frank celebrated Saint Nicolas in 1943 in the annexe. It was the first time in her life she celebrated this Dutch event, she was thrilled with the tiny presents and the poems distributed by those who took care for those hiding Jews.

We as parents do enjoy the entire ceremony as much as our children. How much you believe is not even a thought, the mystery lasts forever if you want. In the period of the three weeks until the 5th of December, Saint Nicolas is a stream of positive energy and a time of sharing, singing, writing and hoping for the Saint to come.
Energy and to maintain the balance of flows of energy is the theme of an exhibition in the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam. For the Chinese people, energy is a compilation of thoughts, behaving, feeding, moving. Solange was born when we lived in China, 12 years ago. I wonder if her energy is not partly caused by the Chinese philosophy. It is brilliant, their way of comprehension and how a special kind of tea makes a complete difference. The China Tour exhibition finishes with a activity to collect qi: energy. Driving home children's voices, loud and clear, sing en beg for sweets and toys, having been nice all year long.

Anne Frank's Diary

Amsterdam, The Anne Frank House at the Prinsengracht. Again, we were deeply shocked by the story of Anne Frank. We took the stairs behind the book shelfs upstairs to the famous annexe. Anne Frank lived here with her parents, her sister and four other refugees to hide for the Nazis. We are confused by the history, the lack of resistance of the Dutch people in general. Looking at the pictures with the long rows of Jewish people walking through the streets, heading the road to the end of their lives. The modesty of the different rooms is breath taken. Anne decorated her walls so nicely with images from magazines. You feel so small while reading the notes in the museum and watching the video images. Anne Frank's amazing way of clear understanding and the cry for freedom. Wandering if she would be one day not only a Jew but just a human. We looked up to the blue sky, which appears through the window in the roof. Fragments from Anne's diary spin in your head. Solange explains and tells us from her readings about Anne Frank. Points out where the furniture stood and who lived where in the annexe. The windows are covered with black fabrics, rayons of daylight hardly enter. While Anne Frank asks for understanding, respect and freedom for every religion, race and human being , the Swiss decide today in a national public voting whether to stop the construction of minarets. Political parties focused on national identity will be more than amused by this outcome. It will certainly encourage the discussion on the place of the Islam in Europe. Tolerance can't be taken for granted and political leaders have to fight for it.

Walking through the streets towards the Dam and the Royal Palace, we enjoy a hot cocoa in the magnificent Bijenkorf mall. The girls are tasting the warm dark liquid, served in a thick glass and taking a bite of their gingerbread and spicy cookies. Free to drink what you like, to walk where you feel like, to spend time with those you choose, to believe in Saint Nicolas, all so precious and so unbelievable, Solange is just the same age as that Jewish girl at the Prinsengracht who could only describe her feelings and her longing for being free again.

Sweet Dutch and Jewish delights

Candle light and a visit of a mystery guest. While overseeing the canals of Amsterdam and with street lights flickering in the evening, we are comfortable inside. Amsterdam in early December is as good as you can imagine.We forget that we are tired from the early wake up call in Rabat. It has been almost two years for the girls that they were here for the last time. A taxi brings us straight to the apartment of the painter and her lover. The steep stairs are waiting for us after the front door and bring us to the fourth floor. The canal house is situated along the largest canal of Amsterdam: De Oude Waal. The room has a view and we admire the tall canal houses at the opposite side from the canal. House boats in the canal, women in fancy outfits on their bikes. I enjoy the clouds and do love these famous Dutch skies. Sweets at the table and a Jewish ginger cake. The dough is so good. Solange is in a winning mood: being in Holland, friends, family, cousins and all the food she likes is at the table. The table is nicely decorated and the ambiance is just right. The light is soft, the blue violet flowers are exactly fitting with the pastel colours of the season sweets. These small meringues figures are all about Saint Nicolas and his attributes. In the meantime David prepares home made pasta with the girls while they try to walk around with the high heels of the painter. Evening falls. A knock on the door and a notion of expectation. A slip of his red coat, his mitre and his golden staff. The Saint is here! 

David's recipe: Jewish ginger cake
Butter 250 gr, 180 gr of brown sugar, 225 gr of flour, 1 egg and some salt. One can of ginger in juice. make a crumble dough and put it in the cake form. Use the tips of your fingers to distribute the dough at the buttered bottom. Cut the ginger in small pieces and put these on the dough, don't use the juice.