What I eat every day
My fellow humans often ask me, What do you eat every day? I'm curious about fellow practitioners' choices too, as many generally strive to eat food that is affordable, local, seasonal, and unpackaged (though it's rarely possible to satisfy all these criteria at once) and avoid food waste as much as possible. I've written about my relationship with food many times in this autoethnography, but then I thought, after receiving some more invitations from my fellow humans to share more, that it's a good idea to disclose this relationship in detail.
It goes without saying that I dwell this space as a sustainability researcher and practitioner and as a consumer, not an expert in nutrition and certainly not a chef! My partner often says that my food preferences are those of a 4 year old. I used to feel somewhat offended by this (I'm 36), until I realised that he is right. I love the same foods I used to love when I was very young.
Food that I eat, in general, is very simple, some would even say basic. I eat mostly vegetables, fruits, beans, mushrooms, pasta, and rice. Occasionally, I eat cheese and eggs, and very rarely (sometimes once in a couple of months), I eat fish. I eat tofu very occasionally, but I much prefer beans, and most tofu sold here comes in plastic (though there are also options packaged in glass in health food stores). I don't eat meat - my younger brother and I never liked it even when we were children. I was fully plant-based for some years, but I could never get enough calories on that diet despite eating until I was full and not avoiding any foods such as oils. Having said that, most of my meals even now are plant-based. And I never, ever count calories. I eat intuitively. Sometimes, especially in summer, I just eat a bowl of fruit for breakfast. I don't go out of my way to avoid less healthy foods: at times, I eat a biscuit or a piece of chocolate, or ice cream, or even something from a local bakery.
For breakfast, I usually eat oats cooked in plant milk (usually Danish oat milk) and water with whatever I have at home (fruits, dried fruits, nuts, cinnamon, nut butter, a spoon of plain plant yoghurt, etc.). If I don't want oats (which is rare, I love them), I eat some plant yoghurt with fruits or granola or something else that I have at home. In the picture above is plant yoghurt with one banana, a couple of strawberries and granola. These strawberries came from Spain. I almost never buy strawberries in winter. They are in season here in Denmark in summer, and this is when I buy them (it's also possible to get them in paper packaging and from food markets). I've read that my unborn baby's tastebuds are developing these weeks and that his taste might be affected by what I eat. I hope he will be loving and eating the same food as me when he's older, so I decided to get some strawberries. I will not be buying more of them because it's certainly not sustainable, and these strawberries are expensive. Yet, I want to be honest in my autoethnography about what exactly I buy. One might ask if what is shown in the picture above is enough to satisfy me until lunch time. It's definitely not, but now in pregnancy I feel that I cannot eat large portions. I generally prefer eating smaller portions of food, and eat them more often. For example, I would have cut up apples and nuts later.
For lunch, I often eat potato smørrebrød (open sandwiches here in Denmark) with vegan mayo. Alternatively, I eat an omelette with leftover vegetables or mushrooms. I cook mushrooms with olive oil or butter (or both), soy sauce and vinegar. At times I add garlic or spring onion or both. Or I eat leftovers from the previous day's dinner. Or a bread roll with cheese. At uni, I eat a bread roll with cheese and fruits.
For dinner, I eat pasta (or pasta made from brown rice), or rice, or potatoes with vegetables, mushroom and beans. Or just lots of vegetables (e.g., ratatouille, salad or soup). I don't love salad dressings (I just use olive oil), but when I do make it, it is just olive oil mixed with vinegar.
I never plan my meals. I've tried doing that in the past, but quickly quit this activity. I understand that it works well for some humans, but it doesn't work for me. Because I like to eat intuitively and listen to my body, I cannot predict, say, on Monday what exactly I will want to eat in the end of the week. So I visit my local cooperative supermarket often, a few times a week. It also allows me to see what is affordable or on sale, unpackaged, seasonal and so on. There is something else I do not do and that fellow sustainability practitioners do rather often (in my experience): I do not freeze food. I much prefer freshly cooked food. The kind of food I cook doesn't take long at all, and I love preparing my meals often and from scratch. I feel good about prioritising this activity. I'm writing these words when I'm 21 weeks pregnant. The baby moves rather often, and whatever I do, I feel that we are doing it together. It's wonderful to cook together. I would not prefer any other activity instead.
I don't follow recipes. I like to use whichever ingredients are available to me and satisfy as many of my criteria as possible. I learned the very basics of cooking from my mother and grandmother, and it is my intention to pass on this knowledge to my son.
As for snacks, I usually keep a large bowl of fruit at home. It's never the same, but oftentimes there are Danish apples, bananas (something my stepchild loves to eat), and seasonal fruits. In summer, there are Danish pears and plums. If I'm feeling hungry, I might eat a slice of bread with honey or nut butter or jam.
When I eat less healthy food (e.g., biscuits), I usually eat it together with something healthy. For example, I would rather eat one biscuit with a few dates or a piece of fruit rather than many biscuits.
I never bake. Cakes and similar foods have never been my favourite, otherwise I'd certainly bake them. Even in a bakery where cakes look beautiful, I would rather buy sweet bread or a scone. At times, my partner bakes plain banana bread, which I love. But I could live my whole life without cakes and not ever miss them.
I don't take any supplements. Early in my pregnancy, I had several blood tests done, and everything looked fine.
What do I drink? My most favourite beverage is tap water. Here in Denmark, tap water is safe to drink. It is delicious. I don't aim for any particular water intake, I listen to my body instead. In the first trimester, I couldn't drink tap water at all. I drank carbonated water instead (my partner has a sparkling water making machine that we generally only use in summer). These days, I can drink plain tap water again, and I'm very happy about it. At times, I add a slice of lemon to it. I also drink tea and instant coffee (less than a teaspoon in a cup). Most other types of coffee taste bitter to me, though very, very occasionally (approximately once a month as per our new year's resolution), we buy coffee from a coffee shop. So I don't avoid coffee in pregnancy. In summer I make my own tea with foraged herbs. I generally don't drink anything else. Perhaps plain tonic or lemonade or juice a few times a year, especially in summer. Before pregnancy, I used to drink Danish cider, though not very often. I also used to drink white wine, though very rarely too, or blueberry wine that I would get from Sweden. In my case, drinking very little alcohol is not about self-control, but rather preference. Alcohol is simply not something that I love drinking. In pregnancy, I do not drink alcohol at all.
Do I have any pregnancy cravings? In the first trimester, due to hyperemesis gravidarum, I only had food aversions. By approximately week 16, I began to feel better. I very much want to eat the same food I ate before pregnancy (the same foods I mentioned above). Vegetables, fruits, beans. If I wasn't concerned about sustainability, I would probably eat a lot more blueberries, raspberries, pineapples and fresh herbs. I don't want to eat any spicy food, but this is something I never gravitated towards. This is not to say that spicy food is not delicious (it certainly is - and it's my partner's favourite food), I simply prefer herbs over spices.