WAPF Wise Traditions: The Food

One of the things that excited me most about going to the 2011 Wise Traditions conference was the food.  I didn't have to plan or cook it.  No one asked me to do the dishes, either!  Glorious.

The following pictures were taken with camera on my phone.  They just don't do it justice.  (About a year ago, our house was robbed and the greedy thieves took my camera among other things.)

And, because I was so excited about meeting people, I forgot to take pictures of breakfast and lunch on Friday.  Believe me, they were delish.  I drank some of the most wonderful mango yogurt every morning. 

Before I gush any further over the food, I want to tell you one of my BIG takeaways from the conference: when I eat nourishing traditional food I am not tempted to snack.  Not once did I think, "Gee I'm hungry" between meals.  Nor did I dream about a bite (or ten) of chocolate.  My cravings for carbs were non-existant.  I think this is because I was eating plenty of fats and nutrient dense foods.  

The full menu is here.  Can you imagine cooking for 1200-1500 people?  I don't even want to think about it.  Here's a picture of where we ate.

Friday's dinner buffet included:

fall tomato salad with cucumbers, basil and red wine vinaigrette

 Above and to the left is sourdough bread.  Below is beautifully yellow butter from grass-fed cows.  About 800 pounds of said butter were used for the conference.  Yum.

My dinner plate, below: grilled pork and beef sausages, lacto-fermented sauerkraut, potato chips fried in lard, butter, sourdough bread, tomato salad with cucumbers, watermelon slice drizzled with balsamic drizzle, molasses baked beans.

Keepin' it real here - the beans were crunchy.  So later I found chef Monica Corrado and asked her about them because I've cooked crunchy beans before - from soaking them in some acidic medium, as suggested in Nourishing Traditions.  Sometimes no matter how long I cook those babies they are crunchy.  So, I've stopped soaking with an acidic medium.  I've only been soaking in water.  'Cause who wants crunchy beans?  Not me.

Monica told me there was a communication break-down in the kitchen.  After all, she was re-training the chefs from the Sheraton to cook traditionally, Weston A. Price style.

She also told me that she worked with Nourishing Tradition's author, Sally Fallon-Morell, to develop a chart for soaking beans and grains.  Some need an alkaline medium, not acidic!  You can get this handy chart as an app on your smart phone.  Search for Bean and Grain Prep.  It will change your life forever and you can thank me later.


Back to our regularly scheduled food post.

Saurday's lunch was roasted beet salad, lacto-fermented pickles, assorted raw cheeses,  braunschweiger and liverwurst - which I'd already purchased some, honey mustard, sourdough bread and yummy butter, cheesecake with an incredible almond-date crust.

 I knew I wouldn't eat much of the soup because I had so much on my plate already but I had to try the vegetable rice soup in chicken broth.

Saturday's dinner was a banquet.  It started with smoked Sablefish (or black cod) from Vital Choice.  I'm not a big fan of fish so it is a big deal when I say this was good.  It was served chilled but the next day I tasted it warm at the Vital Choice booth and it was amazing.

Main Course: Pot Roast with root veggies and winter squash.  Fermented veggies were passed around the table.  Yum.

 Dessert was a simple red wine poached baked pear with walnuts and carob sauce.  Also very yummy and satisfying.

 Sunday's lunch/brunch: pastured egg casserole, fermented salsa, pork sausage, sourdough french toast and maple syrup, grass-fed butter, melons, liverwurst and honey mustard, slices of parmesan, salmon lox (which I tasted for the first time and it wasn't that bad!)

 The next two pictures are about food, but not of food.  There were some witty t-shirts at this conference.

Below his shirt says "praise the lard."  And on his plate is something I tasted for the first time with Friday's lunch - a coconut wrap.  It would be a good gluten-free tortilla option, albeit pricey.  I will vouch for the flavor = yummy.

And the treat I brought home to my family?  Salmon roe.  My 18-month old was eating it straight off the spoon.  My 7-year old son wanted to spit it out - he struggles with textures.  I'm not a big fish fan but I bought this roe after listening to Sally Fallon-Morell's talk on Healthy Pregnancy.  Vital Choice posted a cute video of children from the conference tasting roe for the first time.

Other posts about the conference worth mentioning: Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS and Cheeseslave.

The conference was wonderful and I sincerely hope that you could go next year.  It is a worthwhile investment.

-Julie

My other posts about the 2011 conference:

- Volunteering for a scholarship & blogger sightings.

- Liverwurst is not the worst. Complete with video of my toddler gobbling it up.

- What I Learned at the 2011 Conference; five overall impressions

- Julie's guide to the 2011 audio.