Elettra Wiedemann - Impatient Foodie: 100 Delicious Recipes for a Hectic, Time-Starved World

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Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. SCRIBNER An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com Copyright 2017 by Elettra Wiedemann Photographs copyright 2017 by Davide Luciano All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com Copyright 2017 by Elettra Wiedemann Photographs copyright 2017 by Davide Luciano All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information, address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. First Scribner hardcover edition June 2017 SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or . The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. Interior design by Erich Hobbing Cover photograph by Davide Luciano Cover design by Jaya Miceli Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-5011-2891-2 ISBN 978-1-5011-2893-6 (ebook) This book is dedicated to my grandad, who always inspired me to think harder, dream bigger, and taught me how to cook the perfect salmon fillet in just ten minutes with three ingredients when I was nine years old, thus igniting my Impatient Foodie fire.

T en years ago if you had told me Id be a food blogger and cookbook author, I would have chuckled and patted you on the head. Until I was about twenty-seven, the only relationship I had with food was what I cooked for myself to make sure I could fit into sample sizes for modeling work. I had always pretty much subsisted on pasta (tortellini!), but that stopped working when it came to fitting into size 2 clothes. But the financial upside of being unnaturally thin at almost six feet tall was a good enough incentive for me to reel in my love for pasta and teach myself how to eat more cleanly. I focused on integrating more vegetables into my diet, but also not starving myself because, to paraphrase the Hulk, you wouldnt like me when I am hungry.

After a few years of experimenting, I got to a place where I could cook myself very healthy meals that provided the same satisfaction as a bowl of my weaknesstortellini drowned in pesto and olive oil. Learning to cook and feed myself in a new way was the unwitting first step on my road to foodie-ism. The second one came a few years into modeling, when I experienced what I call my Quarter-Life Crisis. I suddenly freaked and decided that disappearing into Africa was the only way to clear my head. I volunteered at Oria and Iain Douglas-Hamiltons Save the Elephants camp in the Samburu National Reserve. There I was put in charge of stocking the camps food supply.

Within days, I was flabbergasted (and slightly disgusted, to be perfectly frank) when I realized the incredible quantity of food that humans consume. I remember one morning in particular, while I was counting the supplies, when I thought, What the hell, were out of that already?! God, if fifteen people are going through this in a week, imagine what a city like New York goes through, or London, or Beijing! Still today, when I try to imagine that quantity of food, it is so large that I cant. (Dont even get me started on the amount of food wastethat just makes me want to cry.) A few years later, I got accepted to the London School of Economics for grad school. I didnt feel some major calling toward academia, mostly I applied there on a whim. Hey, if I got accepted into the biomedicine program, wouldnt that be impressive?! Oh shit, I got accepted. No one was more surprised than me.

In addition to my requirement courses, I took classes in environmental politics and cultural theory. There was zero strategy or vision in my curriculum choices beyond interest, curiosity, and recommendations from friends. But my random approach to classes really bit me in the ass when it came time to propose my dissertation topic: What connects public health, environment, and cultural phenomena? After weeks of wracking my brain, the answer became clear: food. I wrote my dissertation on the future of feeding urban populations with a particular focus on a biotechnology proposal known as vertical farming. I can feel your eyes glazing over as you read that, so Ill just say it was through researching that I came to realize that food is much more than just whats on my plate. It connected me right to all the large, complex, inertia-inducing issues that kept me awake at night, like climate change, water (or lack thereof), the state of the oceans, human rights, animal rights, and beyond.

But in spite of knowing all I knew, I was IMPATIENT . Every time I stood in front of my supermarkets egg aisle, I was filled with befuddlement, frustration, and confusionthis cocktail of feelings inspired me to start Impatient Foodie . What I want is simple: eggs that are healthy for me and come from a healthy, happy chicken. Yet I find myself reading the damn cartons for at least ten to fifteen minutes, weighing my options with an inner monologue that goes something like: These eggs are organic, but not certified humane. Those are certified humane, but not organic. This carton says their eggs are organic and the chickens were cage-free, but no humane certification.

These are organic and have that non-GMO butterfly seal.... Wait, how does that make sense? Isnt that redundant? Whatever, dont get sidetrackedFOCUS. These just have cute chicken cartoons on the carton with lots of great words and promises, but no official seals of any kind. But, still the cartoons have to mean something, right?! No one could be that cynical or dishonest... could they? Time ticks by, my shopping list doesnt get any shorter, and at some point I throw my hands up in frustration and just toss whatever egg carton into the cart. Then I move on to the next thing on my list, which inevitably involves its own set of mind-bending questions and moral quandaries.

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