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Photo by Gail Harvey, no reproduction without permission
Living Well The poet and spiritual orator George Herbert, (1593-1633) said it: “Living well is the best revenge.” He wrote it in his book of proverbs, Jacula Prudentium, circa 1651. In the same book, he wrote “Love, and a cough, cannot be hid” but that one’s somehow less fun for people to reiterate, although it is bang-on and handy at weddings. A number of his other proverbs are still very much with us to this day. Just ask Madonna or the band R.E.M: Herbert comes in handy with borrowed pop song lyrics, too. There are a lot of people walking around thinking that Oscar Wilde was the source of the living well quote and you can sort of see why. It has a droll, drag-queenly truth to it. That a highly religious man of wealth and culture and a notorious gay playwright (1854-1900) shared an uncanny ability to see human nature for what it is so clearly is not at all surprising to me. Priests and dandies have always had a lot in common: an eye for human detail, for one.
But the point of this blog, and I do have one, is the concept of living well. Most people, when they hear “Living well is the best revenge” tend to focus on the revenge part. Or, if you’re from my generation and a Torontonian, you might associate it with a once-popular café and bar on Yonge Street, named with Herbert’s quote in mind. It was the hot spot eighties home of Blueberry teas, great music, the occasional celebrity sighting and kahlua cheesecake, and those long lovely evenings on their back patio. It was also one of the few places a young gay person could go and feel sophisticated, well-fed and treated with respect by the servers, who looked past the fact that you were probably about, say, 17 years old. I think I may have had my first martini there: big surprise, I can’t remember! But of course in those glory days it was also full of smoke, excess and less-positive dramas. The stuff of life, if not always the stuff of living well. And then came AIDS and the rapid disappearance of certain beautiful boys from the scene. We all kept going to the Living Well out of sentimental need, but it was never quite the same place by the time the mid-nineties hit. I did drag my friend Catherine Hunter there for a terrifically fun afternoon-turned-night there some years back but when Cathy is around, even the most generic Burger King could become a mecca for soul-happiness.
Living well IS the best “revenge” against the pro-stress, pro-material engine of the world. And it doesn’t mean buying fancier things or eating at expensive restaurants to prove that one has made it. Living well means a morning walk with the dog or a half hour with a book before you even begin to deal with the computerized or vehicular elements of life. We never used to have to remind ourselves how to live well, with quality. Never have we heard more about sleep problems, anxiety problems, depression and eating disorders: many of these somehow connected to too much exposure to TV, computers and cars. This is the toll of progress and technology and it is rather easily paid if you pay attention now and then. You do not have to be rich to swing it and by contrast, you do not need to be “poor” to embrace a simpler life. The media loves to apply quick-fix slogans to simplifying life but the most essential step one comes through food. There is no more powerful bonding agent for couples, families, friends, co-workers. Granted, the media is packed with food stories in a way it never used to be. The Food Network teems with shows and every other person seems to be at the very least, neurotically aware of how shameful their eating habits are or how superior. Pheh to it all. The slow food movement has to be one of the most interesting aspects of 21st century living well. Our great grandmothers would roll and cackle if they could see us: slow food? You mean that which I did daily as a matter of course? It’s not unlike composting, that “hot new trend.” Salad dressings from scratch! Take your time making stew without canned items! Bread you had to make with your own two hands! A real revelation, I guess, and we can hardly blame people for not knowing any different. But the only thing that ever kept me sane when I was a young person of limited means in the big city was cooking for myself. Lovely, sometimes bizarre but often innovative and healthy meals. And sure, the difference was and is that I find cooking relaxing, even at work, even when ten tables order at once. Everyone has a song in their blood and for me the song emanates from stoves and knives and countertops and baskets of food items. Others find their innate music in mathematics and while I do not sing that song I admire those who can. Because I can feed them and they can do my taxes: all good!
We have been ordering a small amount of meat from a local organic farm, CJ Nyman Farms [see links page] this year and I cannot tell you enough times: if you are going to include meat in your diet, make it as natural as possible. You will feel a difference immediately. Yes, it costs more, but for that very reason, you will eat, as your ancestors did before you, a REASONABLE amount of animal protein. Organic fruits and veggies and meats are extremely easy to access where I live and it does require some planning and no we do not live like saints who eat 100% organic yet, but we’re closing in. Slowly, because living well is the best revenge against corporate mass-produced food makers. Can you imagine what this blog would be like if I had access to the movie Food Inc??? Haven’t seen it yet. A part of me doesn’t want to, but of course I will. Again, I am very lucky to live within mere miles of two esteemed organic purveyors of veggies: Cherryvale Organic Farm [see link] and Vicki’s Veggies, on beautiful Morrison Point Road, right here in the south-eastern portion of Prince Edward County. [see link] I am also lucky enough to work someplace where the owners are determined to use local produce, meats and cheeses at every opportunity. It is living well when I bring in the bins from Cherryvale and Vicki’s and clean the sweet green heads of Little Gem romaine lettuce or scrub carrots that taste like carrots always used to. I love knowing that the lamb we plate for our patrons came from a farm down the road and that the buckwheat flour in the crepes is also made right here. The cheese in the crepes comes from Black River Cheese and the cheese on the wine taster platter is from the wildly successful Fifth Town Cheese company which makes the best goat cheese cheddar ever. The spinach under the local steak on the steak salad is grown miles from the Milford Bistro [see links page] and you get my point.
It isn’t about saintliness or superiority: it’s about living well so you feel well so you can do whatever else it is you want/need/dream of doing. And it’s no shame if you can’t get local items, just pick healthier ones for yourself, little by little and day by day. Local bakery? Use it! Farmer’s market in your town? Go already. It is so powerful what happens when you eat well and invite those you love to do the same. A key step might also be to buy yourself a copy of one of Bonnie Stern’s user-friendly cookbooks. We have worn ours out. Thumbing through a much-loved easy-to-make cookbook is also an act of living well.
Links to Nyman Farms, Cherryvale Organic Farm, Vicki`s Veggies and Milford Bistro on links page.
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