Potlatch

Did you know that “POTLATCH” is the original version of our modern day Potluck? Yup!

“A custom of the First Nations peoples of the Pacific north-west coast, where a ceremonial period of feasting was accompanied by lavish giving away, and sometimes destruction, of goods and property. Those who gave away or destroyed the most property earned the greatest social prestige. Anthropologists have described the ceremonies as a form of ‘war with property’. The Potlatch also had important elements of economic distribution, social bonding and political processes, all central to the maintenance of a society. The Canadian government considered the practice to be destructive of the stability and established hierarchy of native communities and it was outlawed (from 1884 until 1951) and rigorously suppressed.” (taken from here)

In any case, this entry is called Potlatch because there’s a whole buncha tidbits in here for you to enjoy:

“Feed yourself for $1.00/day” Way way way too extreme, but it can be done. I think if you can swing it on $5.00/day per person, you’re doing well. The only comment in there that I wholeheartedly supported is:

“But beyond saving money, writes Green¬slate, “the most noticeable benefit was that, for the first time in our lives, we knew exactly what we were eating.” For instance, store-bought tortillas list as many as 30 to 40 ingredients. “You’d need a dictionary or the Internet to try to figure it out,” he says.”Which was mentioned after they figured out how to make their own tortillas.

You should also see a link at the end of this article to another (more sensible) article about a couple who spent only $50 on groceries for one week – AND they’re foodies! Leading by example, when I return to a land where a single tomato doesn’t cost $5.00 and carrots are available most of the time, I think I will do a little side project on how to eat whole foods cheaply and post about that (which serves a double purpose since I will also be unemployed AND have tons of free time on my hands!) You know who also has great ideas to eat on the cheap? Clean Eating Magazine! I should go sign up for a subscription right now and have it sent to my sister’s house - DONE!

On Breakfast Television this morning, they were talking about coupons, and I realized how much I missed being little-miss-frugal…there is no way to be as frugal on this island as I was at home, and I almost cannot wait to get back to that!

Cavemen among us? I got a hoot out of this article, Men (mostly) who have decided to revert back to their ancestors’ way of eating and living…made me wonder if they’re all hairy and smelly and stuff!

My friend (Hi Dominic!) went home recently and got to go to a Cabane a Sucre (Sugar Shack - sounds so unrefined in English!) where he got me some Maple Taffy – Mmmmmm! I was never a big Maple Syrup fan, BUT, Maple taffy on the other hand…wow! It took me back to when I was a little kid and we ALWAYS took school trips out to the Cabanes in the early spring and we went touring around and saw all the buckets filled with sap and we’d watch them boil the sap over a fire in a HUGE cauldron and then they’d pour some over the snow and we’d get our popsicle sticks out and twirl the chilling maple taffy onto them and into our mouths - OMG that was the best treat in the world! Then we’d have a big ol’ Cabane breakfast with HAM and EGGS and PANCAKES and syrup on everything! Ah…those were the days! I am totally bringing my kids out to the Cabanes EVERY YEAR because a) it’s an important part of our history and b) it’s a great way to see how a whole food is produced for us to eat. Some friends make Maple Syrup up at their cottage (Hi Leanne!) and I am hoping for an invite to help out next year! (Also still counting on that canning lesson :D) Quebec did a little study on Maple Syrup and found out about some good antioxidant properties…

And – I’d like to take a moment to do another recipe review:
I made this Spiced Lentil Soup on Sunday and I highly recommend it! It’s yummy, easy, and you put everything in your slow cooker to boot (perfect for weekday suppers – it’s hearty enough to be filling, and there’s NO FAT!) – I had to sub in some stuff like I found that I had NO CURRY POWDER at the last minute! Someone must have stolen it because I have alllll my other spices, but no curry! So, instead I threw in 3 teaspoons of Tumeric (which is supposed to be super-dee-duper good for you anyhow), and although it doesn’t make the soup spicy, it made it taste very exotic (and good!). Also, since I put the kybosh on most canned goods, I have been filling my freezer with alternatives, such as home stewed tomatoes. I winged that one – I just took a buncha tomatoes, chopped them up, put them in a pot with a little water and set them to simmer til they were soft, plopped them in a freezer bag et voila. Stewed tomatoes. I also almost always use organic low sodium vegetable broth, because to this day I cannot deal with the idea of consuming factory farmed chickens (or any meat for that matter!) and since I don’t know the source of the chickens in chicken broth, I cannot bring myself to eat that either (plus, it cuts down on fat consumption anyhow – which I have to save all my fat consumption for BUTTER now that I have given up the low-fat-low-calorie-low-whatever spreads.)

And because in every Potlatch there’s always at least one ‘surprise’ or misfit dish, check this out! (I’m an egyptology-hobbyist and lately they have been making some AMAZING discoveries over there in the sand!)