Last week we landed in Seattle and it used to be the views that really shocked me. There are amazing views from the road while driving in Seattle. But something has changed. Now what really shocked me was the amount and quality of food available. It is hard not to eat too much in a city that prides itself on being one of the healthiest cities. There are naturopathic doctors on every corner, but there are also bakeries and Starbucks on every corner. As a naturopathic doctor and a recovering orhorexic I find this a very challenging dichotomy.
I lived in Seattle for 9 years and I did enjoy the wonderful food, but now it seems the number of restaurants and bakeries have really grown. As a person who does not eat too many sweet foods, I found it difficult to resist the choices. I am on a gluten free and dairy free diet, so my choices are limited, but not by much in Seattle. Where I currently live in Ithaca, there are few already prepared gluten free food options. And the options available in Ithaca are very sweet, often too sweet for me. So mostly I bake my own breads, muffins, cookies, etc.
When we moved out of Seattle 12 years ago, the only places we ate at regularly were an Indian restaurant, Mushashi's and the only gluten free, vegan bakery was the Flying Apron. This trip, it took me a few days to realize the true number of options available for someone who is gluten and dairy free.
Usually when we stay in Seattle we stay in the house of a family member, but this year we stayed in a hotel. The hotel room did not have a kitchen, so we needed to eat out a lot. I think having to eat out made the situation even worse for me. I do not like to eat out because it is expensive, there is usually dairy and/or wheat in the food, even when the waiters confirm there is not, and I usually eat too much.
This year, since we did not have a kitchen available, we needed to keep our eyes open for food we could eat and I was constantly thinking, "where are we going to have dinner" or "what I can I get for breakfast that would be easy, have protein and be inexpensive". On the first day, my brother in law sent me information about a restaurant that was two blocks from our hotel. I didn't even look at the information until our last night in Seattle.
During the five days we were in Seattle, we went to our old favorite restaurants, Indian Bistro
Musashi's and to my favorite bakery, Flying Apron. I was very disappointed in the Flying Apron this year. When it first opened, they had a wonderful selection of lunch options, including Italian pocket sandwiches, as well as amazing gluten free muffins, cookies, etc. The bakery was sold and the new owners have changed a lot of the recipes. It was not as good and I was very disappointed to not be able to get the wonderful lunch pockets I had in the past. The cookies were breaking and crumbling, and the pockets are no longer available. I am grateful I have the original recipes in the book written by the original owner so I can reproduce the recipes at home.
One of the days, we went down to the Pike Place Market. There is a bakery at the market that we visited in the past that had some good gluten free cookies and other baked goods. We went there and my daughter got a gluten free monster cookie. I got a muffin. The woman told us about another gluten free bakery that we went to. We ended up with lots of pastries. Another morning we went to Vios Cafe and I had terrific gluten free shortbread. On the last night in Seattle I was thinking we needed to get some breakfast close to our hotel because we needed to pack up. I decided to try the restaurant my brother in law told us about, Portage Bay Cafe.
The next morning I walked the two blocks to Portage Bay Cafe planning to get a side order of eggs and bacon. When I arrived, I thought, "this is Seattle!". The restaurant was large and busy, mostly college students, but families as well. There was a beautiful berry bar for pancakes and oatmeal. I ordered my eggs and bacon and knew I would be back soon with my daughter so she could take advantage of the gluten free pancakes and the berry bar. I left and brought my daughter back shortly after. She was so happy. There were three gluten free pancake options, one that was dairy free. She loved the pancakes and the large spread of blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and best of all fresh whipped cream. There was also pure maple syrup.
As we have now left Seattle and moved on to Lake Chelan, I am glad to be out of the city. I don't know if I would trade having so many gluten free and dairy free options for the peace of mind and limitations I have by baking my own. I felt overwhelmed by the choices most of the time and felt like I needed to keep looking for other options, just so I can find the "best" available and try as much as possible. I can be more deliberate and conscious about my choices when the options are not available so easily and consistently.
I think it is also a more natural portion control when I bake for myself and my family instead of buying already prepared foods. I can usually only bake one bread a week and one batch of cookies, muffins or other baked goods. The bread lasts about a week and the baked goods last a week or longer. I think that if I eat one a day, then I don't have to bake again for a week or more. I can't just run out and buy another. When I can buy anything I want at any time, it is easy to eat more and not be so conscious about my choices.
We live in a country where there is an overabundance of food, while people all over the world are starving. I am grateful for all I have, but this trip to Seattle has given me food for thought. I want to be deliberate about my choices and I think that part of living a responsible life is to make conscious choices about the food I eat. Being in a city with so many choices, I lost the ability to make good choices for myself and my family. I ate too much and ended up feeling sick and bloated. When I return to Ithaca, I will not complain about the limited choices, but appreciate all the wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables we have. I will not have gluten free baked goods available, but I will appreciate what I do have and I will make some great peach/berry cobbler or pear sauce with the fruit from my trees.
No comments:
Post a Comment