Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The... (58 page)

In their native state the natives of the Torres Strait Islands have exceedingly little disease. Dr. J. R. Nimmo, the government physician in charge of the supervision of this group, told me in his thirteen years with them he had not seen a single case of malignancy, and had seen only one that he had suspected might be malignancy among the entire four thousand native population. He stated that during this same period he had operated on several dozen malignancies for the white population, which numbers about three hundred. He reported that among the primitive stock other affections requiring surgical interference were rare. The environment of the Torres Strait Islanders provided a very liberal supply of sea foods and fertile islands on which an adequate quantity of tropical plants are readily grown. Toro, bananas, papaya, and plums are all grown abundantly. The sea foods include large and small fish in great abundance, dugong and a great variety of shellfish. These foods have developed for them remarkable physiques with practically complete immunity to dental caries. Wherever they have adopted the white man's foods, however, they suffer the typical expressions of degeneration, such as loss of immunity to dental caries; and in the succeeding generations there is a marked change in facial and dental arch form with marked lowering of resistance to disease. Weston Price, DDS
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

OYSTER CHOWDER

Serves 8

2 onions, finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

½ cup butter

½ cup unbleached flour

1 quart
fish stock

2 cups red potatoes, cut into ¼-inch dice

2 cups
piima cream
or
creme fraiche

2 cups chopped oysters, including liquid

½ cup dry sherry (optional)

sea salt and pepper

pinch nutmeg

2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Saute pepper and onions gently in butter in a large pot. Over medium heat, blend flour with butter and cook, stirring constantly, for several minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil, blending with a wire whisk. Add potatoes and simmer until tender. Add cultured cream, optional sherry and oysters and simmer until just cooked. Season to taste and stir in nutmeg and parsley.

An analysis of cholesterol values. . .in 1,700 patients with atherosclerotic disease revealed no definite correlation between serum cholesterol levels and the nature and extent of atherosclerotic disease.

Michael De Bakey, MD
Famous Heart Surgeon

MEXICAN SOUP

Serves 6

2 quarts
chicken stock

1 cup tomato paste, preferably organic

4 cloves garlic, mashed

¼-½ teaspoon red chile flakes

½ cup fresh lime juice

sea salt or fish sauce (
Fermented Fish Sauce
) and pepper

strips of corn or sprouted whole wheat tortilla, fried until crisp in olive oil or lard, for garnish

1 avocado, diced, for garnish

piima cream
or
creme fraiche
for garnish

Bring stock to a boil with tomato paste, garlic and red chile flakes. Simmer about ½ hour. Add lime juice and season to taste. Serve with garnishes.

Hawk reported in 1923 on feeding experiments which established the supplementary action of gelatin in connection with a cereal diet. Downey, in the same year, found gelatin to be an efficient supplement for the proteins of whole rye, pearl barley and whole barley. Based on the findings of McCollum, Downey was also led to the conclusion that white wheat bread and whole wheat bread would be increased in nutritive value by the inclusion of gelatin. He accordingly conducted feeding experiments with the addition of 5% of gelatin to white wheat bread (salts and vitamins A and B were added) and found that the food value was improved to such an extent that growth rate of the experimental animals was normal and they were able to reproduce and raise healthy, well-formed young. On the same ration, but without the gelatin, ratio of growth was about half normal and only two scrawny and poorly formed young were raised. . .while rats fed exclusively on chick peas exhibited retarded growth, normal growth resulted on the addition of gelatin. N. R. Gotthoffer
Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine

KOREAN SOUP

(Sol Long Tang)
Serves 6

1½ quarts
beef stock

½ pound beef brisket, sliced very thin

½ cup brown rice

½ cup buckwheat or brown rice noodles, broken into pieces

2 tablespoons naturally fermented soy sauce

Bring stock and rice to a boil and skim. Add brisket and soy sauce and simmer for 1 hour. About 10 minutes before serving add noodles.

If there is one dish that is the Korean cuisine's soul food, it is sol long tang, a long-simmered beef broth served with paper-thin slices of beef brisket, rice and noodles. Koreans eat it morning, noon and night. Elaine Louie
The New York Times

ROE SOUP

Serves 6

about ¾ pound fish roe (small fish eggs, not large)

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped very fine

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 medium onions or leeks, peeled and chopped

3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 quart filtered water

3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed

pinch of saffron threads, soaked in warm water

1 cup brown rice or buckwheat noodles, broken into one-inch pieces

2 tablespoons fennel leaves, chopped

Popular in the French city of Nice, this recipe dates back to Roman times. Mash roe with thyme and salt. Meanwhile gently saute onions or leeks, tomatoes and fennel in olive oil until vegetables are tender. (To peel tomatoes, see
Kitchen Tips and Hints
.) Add cold water, bring to a boil and skim. Reduce to a simmer and blend in fish roe paste, garlic and soaked saffron. Add noodles and fennel leaves and simmer about 5 minutes or until noodles are tender.

"Eat carrots for vitamin A." Such statements, found in many popular diet and nutrition books, create the impression that the body's requirements for this essential nutrient can be exclusively met with plant foods like carrots, squash, green leafy vegetables and orange colored fruits. The lowfat school of nutrition benefits greatly from the fact that the public has only vague notions about vitamin A; for the family of water-soluble nutrients called carotenes are not true vitamin A, but are more accurately termed provitamin A. True vitamin A, or retinol, is found only in animal products like cod liver oil, liver and other organ meats, butter, cream, fish and fish roe, shell fish and animal fats. This fact is clearly stated in the prestigious
Merck Index
: "Vitamin A is only in animal foods."
Vitamin A Vagary

ROMAN EGG SOUP

(Stracciatella)
Serves 6

2 quarts
chicken stock

4 eggs

4 tablespoons finely powdered Parmesan cheese

sea salt or fish sauce (
Fermented Fish Sauce
) and pepper

2 tablespoons very finely chopped parsley

Bring stock to a boil and skim. Meanwhile whisk up the eggs with the cheese. While stock is boiling vigorously, add the egg-cheese mixture in a thin stream, all the while beating the soup with a whisk. Season to taste. Just before serving stir in the finely chopped parsley.

Cholesterol is a peculiar molecule. It is often called a lipid or a fat. However, the chemical term for a molecule such as cholesterol is an alcohol, although it doesn't behave like an alcohol. Its numerous carbon and hydrogen atoms are put together in an intricate three dimensional network, impossible to dissolve in water. All living creatures use this indissolvability cleverly, incorporating cholesterol into their cell walls to make cells waterproof. This means that cells of living creatures can regulate their internal environment undisturbed by changes in their surroundings, a mechanism vital for proper function. The fact that cells are waterproof is especially critical for the normal function of nerves and nerve cells. Thus, the highest concentration of cholesterol in the body is found in the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD
The Cholesterol Myths

MEDITERRANEAN FISH SOUP

(Cioppino)
Serves 8

1 or 2 onions, finely chopped

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

6 ounces tomato paste

1 cup dry white wine or vermouth

1½ quarts
fish stock

several sprigs fresh thyme

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon red chile flakes

pinch saffron threads

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and mashed

2-4 tablespoons fish sauce (
Fermented Fish Sauce
)

sea salt and pepper

4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 pound fresh sea bass, cut into cubes

1 pound fresh crab meat

1 pound fresh scallops

1 pound bay shrimp

16 fresh clams

8 crab claws

Needless to say, all the seafood you use must be very fresh. You can substitute lobster for crab and mussels for clams, etc.

In a large, stainless steel pot, saute onion gently in olive oil. Stir in tomato paste and add wine, stock, spices and garlic. Bring to a rapid boil and cook vigorously, skimming occasionally, until the stock is reduced to the consistency of thin cream. Remove thyme, add fish sauce and season to taste. Add the seafood and tomatoes and cook gently for about 10 minutes. (To peel tomatoes, see
Kitchen Tips and Hints
.) Ladle into large heated bowls, making sure everyone has one crab claw and two clams.

Serve with a
Caesar salad
and fresh sourdough whole grain bread with butter.