corn-free, glutamate-free

Over the last couple of years in my journey to wellbeing, I've come to accept that healing my body doesn't mean I get to eat whatever I want.  When I eat crappy food, I feel like crap.  Hence my avoidance of my main triggers--processed foods, wheat/gluten, dairy, refined sugar, caffeine, and soy.

Last month, I attended a talk for the Holistic Moms Network on "Additives & Mental Health" by biochemist Dr. Katherine Reid.  After reviewing 1 million research articles correlating glutamate with a variety of chronic and auto-immune diseases, Dr. Reid concluded that Americans have an overabundance of glutamates in their diet primarily from processed foods; this isn't just MSG, but glutamates in all their secret iterations.  I learned that processed proteins (includes meat, grains and legumes) release free glutamates.  So the dairy/wheat intolerance connection is that through processing (homogenization or milling), they both release free glutamates.  This is the smoking gun for dietary intolerance.

I was also surprised to learn that the popular "natural" preservative citric acid does not come from citrus but is chemically derived from corn.  

That was the push I decided we needed to go corn-free again (I was briefly corn-free the year I got pregnant with my daughter).  Since we don't eat much in the way of processed foods, I assume it won't be too hard. Our main corn intake comes in the form of non-GMO corn tortillas, organic tortilla chips, organic popcorn, and infrequently, nixtamal made from homegrown native corn.  I've observed that eating homemade organic popcorn makes me irritable and bloated, most likely from the indigestibility of non-alkalinized corn but now I'm thinking glutamate connection.

I've been trying to figure out why my daughter has been getting sick every 2-3 weeks this winter.  In previous years, there was a clear correlation with wheat.  Once we cut it out, her nighttime congestion cleared up.  

My MIL bless her heart came over the other day with homemade bánh giò|tapioca dumplings wrapped in banana leaves and cơm gà|chicken & rice and sầu riêng|durian just as I cooking up a toothsome sweet potato, kale, and bacon frittata for lunch.  My daughter will choose Vietnamese food over Western food and went for the  bánh giò.  She only ate the chicken filling and left behind the outer dumpling so I ate it for her; I later found out was made from tapioca and cornstarch rather than the traditional rice & tapioca starch.   A short time later, I noticed a rash on my left inner elbow--miliary dermatitis but didn't pay much attention.  By the evening I had a generalized rashiness in my bloodstream (an itch below the skin that cannot be scratched or localized), digestive upset and accelerated hunger despite eating meals.  So I made the connection to the cornstarch (perhaps an anti-caking agent/dough conditioner or perhaps just the processing releasing glutamates).  I drank some nettle infusion and took a probiotic.  I experienced a relapse of symptoms in the night;  I woke up at 3am hot & sweaty, hungry and digestively uncomfortable.  This used to happen every night but had abated over the last few months when I upped my hydration and come to think, when I stopped relying on tortilla chips for snacking.

So there you have it.  There is no magic test one can take, no owner's manual one can read to figure out what ails one.  One has to overcome decades of socialization around ignoring one's body cues to relearn how to pay attention to the signals one's body sends in direct response to input (food, air/breath, water, sleep, environment).

And yet another thing to add to my dietary parameters/intolerance list (see masthead above).

Ăn Ngon Lành | Eat Delectably!

Leilani’s Original Almond Dipping Sauce Recipe

This is a bonus recipe that accompanies my Goi Cuon recipe.

Leilani’s Almond Dipping Sauce

Makes almost 2 cups of sauce

This is my very own recipe that I've been using for over 10 years!  It's based on my mom's peanut dipping sauce which consists of chunky peanut butter, hoison sauce, lime, garlic, chile & water.  My secret ingredient is swapping almond butter instead of peanut butter.  This is inspired by my mom's use of slivered garlicky almonds or crushed macadamias (really whatever she has on hand) as a garnish on lots of different dishes that call for crushed peanuts.  Also I eliminate the hoison sauce which is really just wheat, starch/thickener, color/caramel, and MSG, and instead use molasses instead which is a nutrient-rich sweetener.  If you cannot tolerate any cane sugar, try using organic dried mission figs or dates and use an immersion blender or food processor to mix it.  The measurements are rough estimates of what you will need. Adjust according to your taste.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-6 dried organic unsulfured apricots or prunes or 3 tbs fruit syrup*
• 1 c. crunchy or creamy almond butter
• 2-3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce or fresh diced chilies to taste
• juice from ½ lime
• 1 ounce sliced or minced almonds
• fresh coconut juice (or water)

In a small bowl, mix molasses 6 tablespoons almond butter, chili, lime and garlic. And water until the consistency resembles yogurt. Stir until almond butter is dissolved. Add additional almond butter and water until desired thickness is obtained. Adjust seasonings to taste. Garnish sauce with chopped almonds.

We eat this with our spring rolls and with noodles.

*3/1/2014 This is a substitute for hoison sauce.  I've recently watched Dr. Robert Lustig's TED talk where he lists the 56 names of sugar.  Blackstrap molasses was listed so I am now removing that from my recipe and in considering the sugar content of fruit, I've also removed dried figs and dates as alternatives.

Try my new recipe for making almond sauce:

Leilani’s Rustic Almond Dipping Sauce

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Leilani’s Rustic Almond Dipping Sauce

Leilani’s Rustic Almond Dipping Sauce

Makes 10 oz of sauce

Well after 10 years, I've finally made a new innovation with my sauce.  And my most important critic-- my 5.5 yr old daughter loves it!  The reason for this innovation is necessity.  My normal go-to source for almond butter (Trader Joe's) has been having a nation-wide shortage for this whole year.  So when I decided to whip up some gỏi cuốn | spring rolls for lunch since we had some shredded chicken on hand and making any carbs/starches like rice or sweet potato would take too long, I had to use what we had in the pantry--whole roasted almonds.  I like the rustic flavor & texture achieved by using whole almonds; it's considerably paler than the almond butter sauces I've made in the past since I am not using molasses in this recipe since I like to avoid cane-based sugars which spike my blood sugar; instead I'm using organic medjool dates that I picked up from Whole Foods recently.  And it's not as creamy as processed almond butter.  It reminds me more of the Buddhist vegetarian sauces made with mung beans.  Best of all, I don't have to worry about the industrial processing of almond butter and the allowable rodent content.  Next, I'll try raw & soaked almonds to boost the nutritional value or I might try raw, soaked cashews since I have those in my pantry already (to make dookies).

Since my daughter doesn't yet like spicy, I leave the chile paste on the side and reduce the garlic.  While fresh garlic tastes better, I buy organic minced garlic by the pound from Frontier Coop because garlic sprouts faster than I can use it; conventional garlic is bleached and nowadays imported from China; organic garlic is pricey and we haven't gotten around to growing our own yet.  If you use fresh garlic, 1/2 a clove ought to suffice unless you like it more pungent.

• 1/2 tsp minced organic dried garlic
• 3 organic fresh medjool dates, pitted* or 1 tbs fruit syrup
• 1/2 c. roasted, unsalted almonds
• juice from 1/4 lime
• 1/2 tsp grey sea salt
• water
• chili garlic sauce or fresh diced chilies to taste

In a food processor combine all the ingredients except the chile.  Add enough water until the consistency is loose, but not runny.  Add more sea salt if needed.

Serve the chile on the side so everyone can customize their Scoville factor.

Serve with gỏi cuốn or over warm noodles & protein (Bún).

*3/1/2014 I've recently watched Dr. Robert Lustig's TED talk where he lists the 56 names of sugar.  Date sugar was listed so I am now giving a lower glycemic option and in considering the sugar content of fruit, I've also removed dried figs and dried dates in favor of a lower glycemic fruit syrup.  

Original almond sauce recipe here.
Gỏi cuốn | spring rolls recipe here.

Leave a comment and let me know how you think it compares.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sa Đéc | Mrs. Five's Noodle Dish from Sa Dec Recipe

Pork Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sà Đẹc no broth

This noodle dish is one of my favorite dishes which harkens from vùng Cửu Long the land of the 9 dragons (aka Mekong Delta) of Hokkien-Khmer origin.  It is a specialty attributed to Bà Năm Sa Đéc|Mrs. Five of Sa Dec.  Who this mythical Bà Năm|Mrs. Five  is, I don't know; it's very common in the South to call people by their birth order rather than their personal/intimate name and when they're married by their spouse's birth order depending on which one you are related to or know (VN is a relational language so the pronouns are not fixed but based on one's relationship).

When I was in my first trimester with my daughter and nothing appealed to me, my parents made Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sà Đẹc and my appetite restored.  My stepdad is from the Mekong and was raised in a Buddhist monastery where he learned to cook as a trade.  This is the recipe my parents taught me.  The glass noodles are served with ground pork in a tomato paste base with shrimp and served with a side of pork broth, though chicken or beef broth could be substituted. This is my quickie version without the battered shrimp cakes.  I made two versions in the last few months, one with chicken legs since I was out of my organic hog share and one when I picked up my organic, pasture raised hog share for the year.  I added zucchini to one because we just harvested it from the garden and I'm always looking to boost the veggie content.  Also, my lifelong allergy to onions was recently cured (!!!) by my chiropractor (not just for bad backs, yo!), so onions are back in my pantry for the first time since I moved away from home and started cooking for myself (almost two decades).

Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sa Đéc

Ingredients

• 1 lb of sustainably-raised ground pork or 3 chicken leg quarters, deboned & ground
• 1/2 cup of dried shrimp soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and minced in food processor
• 3 tbs of tomato paste
• 1 shallot, minced (or substitute with 1/2 sweet onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Black pepper
• Red Boat fish sauce
• Organic greens of choice
• Zucchini, julienned (optionally added to stir fry or to broth)
• Tiger shrimp, squid or other seafood (frozen without preservatives)
• Korean sweet potato noodles (dang myun)
• pork broth (can substitute chicken or beef broth) served as a side
• chopped green onions for garnish

Directions

Boil water and make noodles according to directions.  Usually about 10 minutes.  Warm up your broth of choice.

Blend ground meat and shrimp in a food processor until just mixed.

Stir fry ground meat & shrimp mixture, add shallots & garlic, several dashes of fish sauce and pepper.  Cook for until the meat starts to brown but is still pink.  Add tomato paste and saute for a few minutes until cooked.  Remove from heat.

If you wanted additional seafood, poach them in the broth at this time.

Serve the glass noodles with the pork-tomato paste, any seafood, and greens and a side of broth garnished with chopped green onions.  The broth can be used to moisten the noodles to taste/consistency you prefer and/or sipped during the meal.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Anchovy Salad Dressing

This is one of four recipes that feature my favorite fish sauce Red Boat.

Anchovy Salad Dressing

While this goes well with a classic Caesar dressing, my foodie brother taught me a nice salad dressing which I've tweaked a wee.  It's a light salad Asian dressing that pairs well with watercress or other assertive greens (fennel, endives or baby kale, chard & spinach for examples), avocados, and chicken salads. 

• nước mấm 
• lime juice
• sesame oil
• split garlic rubbed on the serving bowl or minced and soaked in the sauce & discarded before serving (more refined that way, meaning less gas)
• optional organic đường thốt nốt | sago palm sugar or coconut palm sugar or raw honey. 

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

(Wo)Manifesto

I started this blog to share my love of Việt food and my nutritional lifestyle that promotes healthy, sustainable choices as I healed myself from auto-immune issues through food.  I am not a food professional.  I am a home cook--albeit anthropologically trained in the culture of Việt Nam at the doctoral level, investigative research analyst for almost a decade, and partially raised by my ông bà ngoại|maternal grandparents which informs my approach to the social history of foodways.  I am a improvisational, free-hand cook which means I don't always use measuring devices or follow recipes/instructions.

My Story*

After a lifetime of allergies, digestive discomfort, and chemical sensitivities--none of which my Việt Nam-born siblings share--I came to realize I was allergic to onions, sulfites, and especially food additives which are abundant in many of the condiments of Việt cooking (and present in American processed foods as well).  When I went to Việt Nam for the first time in 2000 for fieldwork, most of my symptoms abated.  I returned determined to eat organic foods.  Living in the Bay Area, organic food is accessible and plentiful.  Nevertheless, I continued to suffer seasonal allergies, chemical sensitivities, and continually elevated eosinophil levels.

At some point or another, while reading up on Pottenger's cats in order to educate myself about biologically appropriate raw foods for our cats, I read some of Weston A. Price Foundation's materials around native, whole foods nutrition which made an impression on me though I didn't attempt to adopt it beyond the basic principles of "eat what your ancestors ate."

In 2007, I tried the Eat Right for your Blood Type diet.  I eliminated wheat, dairy, corn and a host of other things.  For the first time in my life, my allergies went away for the most part which I attribute to eating avoiding most of the problematic processed foods rather than the quasi-scientific blood type approach.  I got pregnant right after this, and diet went out the window.  Nevertheless, anytime I felt them creep back, I eliminated dairy & wheat and the stuffy nose cleared up. 

When my daughter was born, we realized she inherited my allergic tendencies (weakened adrenals) exacerbated by the haagen daz bars I ate in the last trimester instead of high quality protein, and was allergic to dairy primarily, and sensitive to wheat.  So our family renewed our commitment to additive-free, organic/sustainably-raised real food when possible to heal our leaky guts.

As the cusp of 2011, I had a lot on my plate--I was a working mom at an intense workplace with monthly travel, volunteer contract negotiator for my staff union with weekly travel, my grandfather died, I started taking college courses on the weekend, we relocated to be closer to family and I gained a 1 hr commute each way, oh and I was still nursing my co-sleeping 3.5 yr old.  We "ate healthy" but what wasn't on my plate was a lot of vegetables and whole foods.  Did I mention I worked next to a panaderia | Mexican bakery?  Yeah.  Mmmmm donuts!  Something had to give--I'd already sacrificed much of my social/activist life and to a certain extent my relationships--and so, it was my health that finally gave away.  I burned out or when I'm more bleak about it, I had a nervous breakdown.  It's taken me 2.5 years to crawl, claw, and climb my way out of the fatigue and flatness of life that I thought was just a measure of working zombie parenthood.  i won't get too into how I healed myself in this blog (a longer recounting of my journey over here and here).  Suffice to say it was by eating organic, real foods, hydrating, cultivating self awareness, and sleeping a lot.  I firmly believe Food is medicine.

Along the way, we've become foodies that occasionally buy a whole hog (heritage and organic and directly from the farmer, natch) and found it vastly superior to any supermarket or "natural" pork. (Red Wattle pork has been known to make me cry.)  We became one of those people:

Actually, we do have a dose of practicality & humor about this.  We strive not to be zealous.  (Except when it comes to pork.  I'm known to start flame wars about pork.  They are monologues since no one cares to contest me, but just so you know...)

After spending a couple of years recuperating from adrenal fatigue syndrome, I've eliminated wheat, dairy, refined sugar, soy, food additives, alcohol, additives/preservatives, and stimulants (no more cà phê sữa đá--sob) to heal myself (along with nutrition response testing & whole food supplements and a lot of energy work).  For anyone growing up in America, it is very hard to give up those highly addictive things--especially without sugar or wheat or dairy or alcohol or coffee to make up for it.

We don't adhere to any particular "The NEWEST Miracle Diet".  We eat what feels right to our bodies ("bio-individuality" is a term I was recently introduced to that I like without knowing much about or thereby attaching myself to the intellectually copyrighted product that goes with it).  My nurse practitioner (who is also an acupuncturist) called it anti-inflammatory diet and I'm sure there's a affinity to GAPS diet/Primal diet though I've never read much on either and I happen to believe--along with archeologists, anthropologists, and microbiologists--that humanity has evolved the capacity to digest grains after 10,000 years.  There's an affinity to Weston A. Price too although I think its recommendations can be overly generalist/universalist with a bias towards its main constituency of Euro-Americans, especially in its raw milkism (just because it's good for some people doesn't mean it works for the other 95% of humanity;  I mean my ancestors did not consume non-human milk in any form).  Occasionally, we indulge in things we shouldn't; though more often than not, I pay a steep price for indulgence.

As we started to care more about what went into our food, we started to really see food as medicine--the old adage: "you are what you eat" speaks truth--and to enjoy real food.  The end result is that we are the normallest people and we really like to eat good food.  We are usually too busy eating to take photos of everything we eat.  So I'm sorry this blog won't be sexy and monetizing in that way.  (I should also mention that I don't know how other foodies manage to take DSLR quality photos in the middle of making something and not get their very expensive cameras dirty beyond belief--tripod and remote in a ziploc perhaps--or spend precious moments of their lives prolonging the task of making a meal to pause & take photos of every iteration.  Although I am an amateur photographer myself--I use a Lumix G5 because a DSLR is too damn heavy to take to birth events--I rather enjoy the challenge of taking good photos with a crappy droid phone camera.)

[I should also mention that my beloved big brother has been working in the high end restaurant industry for decades (we're talking Michelin stars, James Beard, and well-earned snootiness, not yelp dilettante snootiness) and he has always introduced me to delicious, gourmet food & wine.  I had my first taste of caviar albeit with tortilla chips when I was 16 or 17, which is a big deal to a kid fed by food stamps and single, working mom cooking (not bagging on it, it's just filled with shortcuts).  And I will still go on and on about that 1986 Vouvray that tasted of innocence and unicorns...  Dude, you know what to get me for my birthday, right?]

So what is the point of this long-winded narrative?  I eat Real Food and when it comes to Việt cuisine, I eat Real Phở.

When I say real, I mean food that is grown in the earth--not in a factory/laboratory--without the use of synthetic, toxic chemicals.  This is how food has been cultivated since humanity became agrarian.  There is a perception out there that organic is a lifestyle choice--a bourgeois lifestyle choice.  To that I respond: Food is a human right.  Food is medicine.  Food is political.  At a time when multinational biotech conglomerates own 82% of the seeds worldwide, ergo almost all the food that humanity relies on, choosing organic is not a privilege, it is an act of resistance.  Saving seeds and growing one's own food is revolution.  Stick it to The Man, grow food, not lawns; support local organic farmers.

Getting back to cuisine--Việt food is marked by its mutability--"fusion" in the popular cooking parlance--a distinctly Southeast Asian palate converges with influences from Indian, Chinese, French, Khmer cuisine.  All these flavors can exist in the same dish and yet still be distinctly Vietnamese (I mean I had Viet sushi in Sai Gon in 2000.  It was Japanese inspired for sure, amaebi, but only a Viet person would think to throw chili paste in the wasabi.  Chili + Wasabi = Double Punch.  Viet ingenuity, that's how we won the wars.)  Moreover, most dishes are highly personalized so that each person sitting down at that meal can have it the way s/he likes it.  I find using whole food ingredients--organic or sustainably-produced when possible, without chemical additives--heightens the experience and enjoyment of the food.  While I like to take food to its ancestral roots, I am not a purist.  I enjoy boosting the nutritional content with superfoods.  I've been known to put kale & zucchini in my soups.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!
*My disclaimer found here. You can direct any questions to my lawyer Bob Loblaw.