New Year’s Food Resolution

Something struck me as I chatted with friends and family over the Holidays. So many were complaining about the damage all the festive goodies that they were imbibing were doing or going to do to their waistlines, not to mention to their arteries too. Such comments were not limited to the women either. The men moaned about high cholesterol, too much fat in the diet and on and on. An internal struggle was being battled out. On the one hand, no one could resist the smorgasbord of food laid out at each and every party and get-together. And perhaps, no one wanted to. Afterall, it is the Holidays, and part of the wonderful warmth and joy of such festive seasons is the sharing of great-tasting food and wine with loved ones. Festive occasions would be infinitely unpalatable if filled with nothing but tasteless rabbit food. Yet, I also found it rather ironic that such a happy time was so filled with guilt… we were eating, but not TRULY, 100% enjoying the food. Didn’t that defeat the purpose of it all? The food was not really being enjoyed unconditionally. Surely, an expanded waistline would have been more “worth it” had the food been experienced and enjoyed without reservations.

That set me thinking… is it really so impossible to have good tasting food that is not overloaded with fat, cholesterol and what have you? Why do so many look askance at “low-fat”, “reduced-fat” or “healthy” food. Foodies, gourmets, cooks/chefs and cooking enthusiasts alike turn their noses up at “low fat” food, declaring them as not “real food”. They wouldn’t be caught cooking “low fat” food, heaven forbid! What sacrilege! Use low fat ingredients? Mon dieu! Never! You call that cooking??!

Too many unsavory jokes and ridicule have been thrown at “healthy” food and those who cook them. Yet, surely, does it not require (in many ways) greater imagination, more experimentation and a deeper understanding of the ingredients, their flavors and how they work with, add to and complement other ingredients, in order to be able to produce food that is not only “low fat” or healthy, but also extremely flavorful?

And so, at the risk of upsetting the food blogging world, I decided I was going to try to bake and cook healthier (and lower fat) food for family and friends this Holiday. Asians, and maybe more specifically the Chinese, are prone to “over-feeding” guests. Dinners for 10 would very often have food enough for 20, gatherings for 30 would have food enough for 50… You get the idea. It’s about “face” and the Chinese concept of hospitality. And with Chinese New Year coming hot on the heels of Christmas, for most people this means that their period of constant and severe over-indulgence in food will be spread over a lengthy 1½ month period! It looks like it may be only the cardiologists and other health-care providers who will be the “winners” at the end of all this.

I guess this is then my New Year’s food resolution and quest. I want to feed my loved ones healthily. My aim (or mission?? Haha, how lofty! ) is to experiment and make healthy adaptations of “conventional” recipes. Actually, a lot of Chinese or Asian cooking, including many of my “standard” family recipes, are already pretty healthy - steaming, braising, simmering, grilling, and stir-frying… In my kitchen, all poultry and meats are religiously trimmed of all excess fat and skin before cooking. Vegetables are sautéed with minimal oil, using broth and seasonings to enhance flavor instead. I think the challenge will lie in experimenting with the much-loved cookie recipes that are such an essential part of Chinese New Year. Admittedly, there are things that can (never?) be made healthier without tasting and looking like crap – pineapple tarts being a case in point. But I think the other perennial favorites like peanut cookies, cashew cookies, cornflake cookies can all be made “low fat”, can’t they? Well, I guess I’ll be finding out over the next few weeks, as Chinese New Year preparations begin in ernest…

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