Intentional Menus: A Season of Nourishment
/‘Tis the season to be intentional about activities to which we say “yes” or “no” and mindfully navigating fall, which always seems busier than we envision – work increases, mini retreats abound, travel for kids’ sports is ongoing... With Thanksgiving on the horizon and impending excess associated with fall festivals and winter wonder, now is an ideal time to evaluate the effort to nourish ourselves. Are we being intentional, or is food prep still a chore?
Over these past weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of creating intentional menus for several events: a plant medicine retreat (work), a yoga retreat (volunteer), and a hockey tournament weekend (motherhood). In three different locations away from home; a variety of ages, health concerns, and dietary needs; and the desire to create meaningful experiences for the people attending, the common theme is “nourishment.”
Work: Thoughtfully considering physical and energetic systems, the menu included plenty of plant-derived ingredients, highly digestible gut-healing nutrients, and well-balanced macros and micros to sustain a group of people on a deep healing journey.
Volunteer: In service of my kids’ school, Syringa Mountain School, and a community of women, I helped craft a vegetarian menu using local ingredients, built around a few, strict dietary needs to nourish many.
Motherhood: Intending to nurture young, growing athletes while remaining flexible for pleasure, the tournament menu includes food and beverages for long road trips, to sustain boys on and off the ice, and to experience local cuisine.
I approached the meal plans with the same intention of creating food at home: simple, nutrient-dense, whole foods-derived, well-balanced, in tune with the season, individual needs, full schedules. I’m not going to sugar-coat this effort: it’s a LOT of work to modify recipes, procure dozens of ingredients, and carve out time to prepare meals. Whenever I ask myself whether the effort is worth it, I receive feedback like, “The food was the unexpected, best part of the retreat,” and “I don’t remember the last time I ate that well and felt this good,” and “This sauce is incredible!” My reply is often, “Thanks! It’s simple - only 5 ingredients, well-balanced, and so satisfying…”
Contrarily, my kids inquire, “Why can’t we have mac & cheese?” or “Mom, do we have to eat the soup?” We compromise with high-quality pasta and cheese, veggies in abundance (currently tomatoes, peppers, carrots, squash), Caesar salad. With soup, I make extra rice (using bone broth) or avocado toast to offset the partially eaten main meal.
Even with simple recipes and ingredients, planning daily meals, snacks and beverages culminates in an incredibly time-consuming endeavor. Not having a plan and eating out is also time-consuming and, often, equally overwhelming! When we intentionally choose most ingredients for most meals, most of the time, then choosing prepared food becomes more enjoyable – albeit equally intentional.
Our choices boil down to modeling food behaviors we want our children – and everyone – to adopt. Intentional meals for the occasion, people we’re feeding, and our state of wellbeing offers peace of mind, presence, a chance to ask ourselves what we – and others – need at the time. Sometimes, we intentionally cut corners for ease, budget, busy life; sometimes we intentionally go big – roasting a whole bird, simmering stock from the bones, and crafting a dessert requiring multiple hours of prep (Thanksgiving, that’s you!).