The Art of Taste

There is an art to tasting your food, this is something that I have forgotten.  I tend to sit, eat – generally while being distracted – and then feel full not really even realizing what I just shoved down my throat.  Melanie Rudnick – a life coach who is now part of our amazing FJ team – tells me all the time to stop and taste the food that I am eating.  To really think about what you are eating. Not only do you enjoy your food more, but being more mindful about your food might make you stop before you eat that snack that you don’t really want or may have you put your fork down once you have eaten enough instead of cleaning your plate.

When I was at Miraval Spa for work last year (yup, work… that didn’t suck) they kept discussing mindful eating. I liked how it sounded, but I think the concept had to really sit with me for a while.  Yes, maybe even over a year.  Now, I’m really thinking about being mindful.  Between Melanie and Miraval and everyone else who discusses being mindful, you realize that can possibly be all that it takes.  Just sitting with your snacks while eating can make a difference to see if you’re actually hungry or if you are just eating because you’re bored.

Anyhow, back to enjoying your food. Saturday night the hub and I went out for a date night.  We went to this awesome restaurant called Public which was suggested to me by my friend who writes at Cy Eats an awesome food and lifestyle blog.  This restaurant is amazing.  Beautiful decor – I remember going there when it was a different restaurant and it looked nowhere near as good.  The cocktails were great and the service exceptional.  But the food.  The food was absolutely magnificent.  I started with Grilled scallops with sweet chili sauce, crème fraiche and green plantain crisps.  To die for good.  For dinner I had Ora King salmon with spiced cauliflower, ash roasted leeks, toasted pepitas, grapefruit and whipped cauliflower purée.  The explosion of taste perfection was unreal.  This was the perfect meal for me to remember what tasting food was all about.  The different flavors on my plate all worked perfectly separately, but when they were put together it was like a perfectly orchestrated symphony.  Every piece sounding stunning on it’s own, but when they play together it literally fills your being up with an unexplainable surge of utopian satisfaction.

I wish I could explain what kind of amazing break through this felt like.  It was like I had forgotten that foods are supposed to be enjoyed instead of just devoured.  To be tasted instead of just piled in.  To be enjoyed, bite by bite, instead of just eating to finish.

I would love for you all to truly start tasting your food.  There are so many spices and flavors out there that can be put together to make culinary masterpieces.  I am no where near that as far as my cooking expertise, but I can start trying.  This evening made that all sync in – the mindful eating, the tasting your food, the enjoying of different tastes and pairings.

All really exciting.

So, I just wanted to leave you with the thought of mindful and thoughtful eating.  Enjoyable eating instead of anxiety ridden eating.  Taking pleasure in your food instead of eating because you’re hungry and need to find something.

Have an awesome and delectable day.

xx

Julia

#ourfitjourney