Squirts of Grapefruit Juice

This morning I consummed a grapefruit in the normal way for the first time. Given that I am nearly done with graduate school, this might suprise some of you. But there are two important reasons that this momentous event was so delayed in my life.

Reason 1: I used to think I hated grapefruit.

This is probably due to the fact that I grew up in Colorado where any grapefruit we came upon was likely shipped halfway across the country. They were also probably "boosted up" with colors and dyes and chemicals to hide the fact that they were old and tasteless or tasted so bitter...just eww. And besides, I can't name a single person in my family (aside from my grandmother who lives in Florida) that actually enjoys grapefruit or ever ate it in front of me. My first encounter with grapefruit was in juice form, and I was repulsed by the bitterness and acidity. Perhaps "repulsed" is the wrong word. Rather, my tongue recieved what felt like an acid burn. I have since stopped drinking grapefruit juice.

Reason 2: While I no longer think I hate grapefruit, I never cut it up myself.
Generally, when I wish to eat grapefruit (often in my yogurt with some granola), I hold it up gingerly and put on my best puppy dog eyes. I then look up at Mr. K (he's slightly taller than me when I wear flats, which is most days) and implore him to use his talents and extensive knowledge to cut the grapefruit up into pefect slices for me. I then have him squeeze out what's left into a little glass, which I happily drink.

This morning, however, I brought a grapefruit with me to work, after Mr. K explained to me the finer points of cutting a grapefruit along the equator and gingerly scooping out half slices with a "small" spoon. He warned me that I might squirt juice in my eye. To which I replied "remember that time when I got a squirt of onion juice in my eye? I thought my eye would fall out."

For the record, I did in fact squirt grapefruit juice all over my face. Some even landed on my keyboard, but I can't quite say I'm disappointed by this fact. Now my desk smells fresh. Not that it didn't before.

Anyway. I can see how at this point you must be slightly puzzled at how I made the jump from "never drinking grapefruit juice again" to not only drinking fresh, husband squeezed grapefruit juice but to eating full grapefruits. That is thanks to our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or "Farm Share." For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it means we pay a lump sum to a local organic farm every few months so that they can plant and grow their crops. In return, we get a box of vegetables and fruits every week...based on whatever they happen to harvest. (No, grapefruits are not indigienous to MA. In the winter they contract with small organic or IPM farms all along the east coast so that we can have more than potatoes, carrots and turnips).  

And how did we get into this? You see, back about a year and a half ago, Mr. K decided to attend a reading hosted by Jonathan Safran Foer at a synogogue in our neighborhood. The book was Eating Animals, and went through the author's process of researching where our food comes from and ultimately his justification for not eating meat. His argument is more philosophical and moral, but he does also cite a lot of social and political facts that are though provoking. I read this book and found the arguments to be quite compelling!

Why exactly my meat-loving husband chose to read this book is a mystery to me. But I think it has something to do with the fact that one of my favorite books is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by the same author. In fact, I almost always recommend it to people when they visit and glimpse our bookshelf (s). side note...if it were possible Mr. K and I would probably line every wall in our apartment with bookshelves and then fill them with books. Thank GOD for our kindles. Mine has over 50 books already...oy.

Long story short (does that ever really happen anyway?), he made the decision to become a vegetarian, and I chose to join him (this was not terribly momentous for me as I haven't had much meat since I moved away from home anyway).

So as soon as Mr. K decided to be vegetarian I realized that I needed to come up with ways of cooking satisfying and interesting food that would keep him from missing meat so much (and keep his family from thinking I was malnourishing or starving him), thereby fully supporting and enabling his vegetarianism. As a result, we signed up for the veggie box which we now LOVE. I have met many more vegetables than I never knew I loved, including kale and chard. YUM.

Some other books I've recently read that you might want to check out if you're curious about where our food comes from and what's really in it (and no, I'm not proselytizing the vegetarian way, but I do think that we should think about where our food comes from and how it impacts our health and wellbeing, however that manifests itself):

Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan talks about "fast" food, "big organic," "small organic," and the self-hunted, self-picked meal of a forager/hunter type. It goes through the history of these types of meals, arguments for and against and more. It's more of a historical look at how our food came to be the way it is, and talks about the political influence on what and how we eat...very interesting! It's a longer book but still pretty easy to get through. I think it only took me a few days to read it. I like the author's style and plan to read more from him, for sure.

Jane Goodall is perhaps one of my favorite authors and favorite people in general. I started to read her in High School when my Animal Behavior teacher (whom I also aided for, filled in for when she was unable to teach due to emergencies, and whose AP bio and general biology classes I took) assigned "In the Shadow of Man." This book goes into the impact what we eat has on the world, and discusses the fact that the way we eat currently is not only unhealthy but also unsustainable (and I invite you to agree or disagree, but to at least have the knowledge to back up your opinion). The beginning of books goes a little more into facts about the anthropology of food and eating, but the then she gets into social, economic and political consequences of our food choices. One thing I like about this book is that she provides real suggestions for small choices that can make a big difference. Not everyone can become a vegan and shop only locally (and that may not even be the best thing to do).

Also a quick update: I'm at book 5 of 52 towards my goodreads goal for the year!