Melissa Delport - Whole – Bowl Food for Balance

Sarah, you were the silent grace that I needed when I realised that doing this single-handedly would be a very big mountain to climb thank you for choosing to climb it with me. Tyla, thank you for being the ray of sunshine that you are and for working on this manuscript with me as if it was your baby too. Your meticulous proofreading was invaluable to me. Nikita, you are an angel sent to me thank you for all the late-night conversations and moments of enlightenment, I am forever changed. Rose, with love and laughter you opened the door to a world of cooking that shifted me into the cook I am today, thank you. Last, but not least, thank you to my tribe for every single moment that you have cheered me on, tested recipes and shared your energy.

Youve pulled me out of doubt, showed me I can do it and walked this journey with me every step of the way. I love you all and I am eternally grateful. Thank you to my wonderful publisher Linda for seeing a book from ten recipes and for choosing me. Thank you to Joy, my editor, for perfecting my words and helping me communicate my story and recipes. Thank you to my wonderful designer Helen for being the creative that you are, making me feel heard and helping me turn my vision into a reality. Having you as my team has been an experience I will never forget.

Published in 2018 by Struik Lifestyle (an imprint of Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd) Company Reg. No. 1953/000441/07 The Estuaries, 4 Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City, 7441 P O Box 1144, Cape Town 8000, South Africa Copyright in published edition: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd) 2018 Copyright in text: Melissa Delport 2018 Copyright in photographs: Melissa Delport 2018 ISBN 978 1 43230 858 2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders. Publisher: Linda de Villiers Managing editor: Cecilia Barfield Editor and indexer: Joy Clack Designer: Helen Henn Photographer and food stylist: Melissa Delport Photographers assistant: Sarah Goodman Ceramic bowls: Mervyn Gers Ceramics Proofreader: Jennifer Leak Reproduction by Hirt & Carter Cape (Pty) Ltd CONTENTS

I discovered this way of eating from Michael Pollan, the American writer and journalist, and it has revolutionised my relationship with food and helped ease the overwhelming anxiety I used to feel around food and food choices. Due to bad eating habits, and a general lack of fad diet understanding at the time, I was put on my first diet at age 11. This set the tone for the next 15 years: pushing myself from one extreme to another with failed results amidst feelings of guilt and anger. I was so busy listening to everyone else and every other diet book that I stopped listening to my body. I had lost the most valuable connection the relationship with myself. Becoming mindful of the food I eat, where it comes from and how it is prepared, coupled with my new-found food philosophy, has allowed me to move past feelings of futility and frustration and let love and nourishment flow in.

Any negative talk or anxious energy around eating is not healthy. And when you consider that most people eat three meals a day, or at least subscribe to the tenets of the contemporary diet breakfast, lunch and supper this harmful reinforcement can occur at every mealtime. However, this also gives you 1 095 opportunities every year to change that reinforcement to a positive one. Our generation is lucky to have learnt the ugly truth about processed foods and the damage they do to our digestive systems and general health cancer, hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes. The reality is dire All the dishes I have created and have chosen to share with you here are wholesome, healthy and delicious. I have avoided mass-produced, processed food in this book entirely.

Be present when creating your dishes. Take the time you deserve to create worthy fuel for your body. Savour each and every mouthful. It has made a world of difference in my life. This book is centred around bowl eating and came about from Buddha bowls. What are they? Simply put, they are bowls of nourishment that contain healthy grains, raw or cooked vegetables, a healthy fat, a protein and a whole bunch of greens.

Eating from a bowl is comforting. The recipes in this book are all about home cooking and delicious flavours. Conscious, considered consumption is the way forward and it is time for us to reclaim our health by making better choices. I hope the recipes in this book will change something in you as they did in me. Healthy eating takes practice and time but it is singularly one of the most rewarding journeys I have ever undertaken. Youll have good days and bad days so it is important to remember that its not about the destination of perfection, but rather a lifelong commitment to your health and wellbeing.

Find what works, eat good food and love your body. REACHING THE UMAMI Discovered by the Japanese, umami is one of the five basic tastes, the others being sweet, sour, bitter and salty. The perfect description of umami is yummy. In this book I cook with a lot of ingredients to create umami flavours. My kitchen is always stocked with onions, garlic and organic tamari sauce. Why tamari? It is a gluten-free option to soy sauce and offers the perfect salt pop to any dish.

When it comes to onions and garlic, they may be delicious but they dont agree with everybody. If you feel bloated or sluggish after eating them, rather listen to your body and skip the ingredients. Take time when building and layering your bowls to create the ultimate umami moment when its time to tuck in. A NOTE ON BUYING ANY INGREDIENTS, AND THEIR LABELS We have been so programmed to care about the amount of carbs or calories we consume that we dont read the ingredients on the back of labels. If you are eating maple syrup, then that should be the only ingredient. Be aware of the amount of colourants and preservatives that are present in something you are considering buying.

If you cant pronounce it then you shouldnt be eating it. On that note, real food doesnt come with a label. LETS TALK PANTRY I want to share a little bit of information about the staples that I have in my kitchen at all times. These ingredients often form the base of my cooking and I consider them as my starting point. They will also help you with the recipes to come so I suggest having these ingredients stocked in your pantry. Grains, beans and pulses are a neutral base upon which to build.