How unprocessed IS unprocessed?

I'm taking part in the October unprocessed challenge from blogger Andrew Wilder at Eating Rules, and have been taken a bit by surprise by the depth to which people are taking the unprocessed concept.

I didn't really think about the concept of "processed" food; after all I process all my food, inasmuch as I cook it. I try to stick to whole foods like fruits and vegetables out of my garden, but I have no problem with flour, wheat or white, rice- white, brown, or wild, pasta from the chain market (and as far as I'm concerned whole wheat pasta is just nasty. Semolina, please) or sugar, although I have switched from standard white (which is usually highly refined beet sugar) to evaporated cane. I never thought about these as being in a category called "processed." I can't make them myself for varying reasons of skill, appliances, time, and philosophy, so I buy them as ingredients and make a meal.

So what this challenge has made me confront is, first, what exactly is a processed food? Raw food enthusiasts will throw cooked food into that category. Fair enough. Flour is processed by definition, and in fact you CAN do this yourself, but does "unprocessed" mean not processed at all, or is flour okay if processed at home? Some "staples" like sugar, really can't be made at home; I can and do switch to honey when appropriate, but frankly, sometimes it's got to be sugar. That's another food, single ingredient, but highly processed by nature.

There are lots of foods like this; processed, outside the home, the process being the thing that makes that food what it is. And I'm not talking about Lays potato chips. I'm taking about pasta. Jam. Bread.

The take away is, a challenge like this makes you think about what you're eating. It confronts you with not only the health, but the social nature of food:I need a miller to process my flour. Since I went SLOW, I actually know my miller, if Facebook counts as "knowing" someone. But I had to think about it. It makes you think about what others are eating. If you step over a line you've drawn for yourself (chocolate) you know you've done it, like cheating at solitaire. Doesn't really matter, but no one's making you cut out refined sugar, and no one knows when you eat it.

Well, except you and your gods.

I made this tonight, with roasted garden vegetables (home grown green peppers, winter melon, radishes and carrots) and penne from organic grain. It's seasonal, local, organic and whole, but is it unprocessed? You tell me.

Real Food, redux

Oh, I love those web challenges-- Kindergardens, Eat Real Food, Project GROW. Here's a new one, Unprocessed, from blogger Andrew Wilder at Eating Rules. Basically, one month with no processed foods.

I love Andrew's definition of unprocessed:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

It backs up my contention here at Mahlzeit, that all you need to cook is common sense. In fact, I think a lot of my non-cooking friends (cough Monica cough) are actually cooking more than they let on. The foodie police and cooking shows intimidate us into thinking that we all have to be gourmet cooks (whatever that means) or it somehow doesn't count. I've taken to buying my spices at the Spice House so I can get them without fillers (although I don't think they are organic for the most part) but when the clerk there asks me rather superciliously what kind of cloves I want (they have 4 different ones), I just look at him. I don't know. Cloves, dude. I just want cloves.

I really try never to make anything on here that any eater couldn't make with easily available ingredients and common sense. Personally, I try to use food I've preserved--whole veggies and fruits either from my garden or from the farmers' market, but even the local corner grocery store (if you're lucky enough to still have one) carries garbage-free whole foods, both fresh and canned.

Point is, you don't need fancy ingredients. You don't need fancy appliances, or pots. You barely need a cookbook, and if the only one you have is of the Betty Crocker "learn to cook" ilk, you're doing great. I'm still using the same set of Revere Ware pots I inherited from my mother, who bought it in the 40s when it was the latest thing in cookware. (Yes-- the ones with the Bakelite handles.)

The main thing you need to cook healthy, delicious food is mileage. Eat real this month, just make yourself cook. You'll be ready to make Thanksgiving dinner in no time.