FOOD GRATITUDE

Gratitude makes food taste better. For lots of reasons. Firstly, as with everything else, when you are grateful for something, you appreciate it more. And when you appreciate things more, you enjoy them more.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Rap Genius. Toast.

 

Many cultures have rituals around giving thanks, ranging from simple pre and post-meal prayers, to toasts, to breaking bread, to allocating a portion of the meal for the needy or for a deity, etc.

A new study in Psychological Science suggests a simple answer: Rituals make people pay more attention to food, and paying attention makes food taste better.

Photo: Courtesy of Foodette.

Researcher Kathleen D. Vohs her team at the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota conducted four experiments. First, some of the study participants performed rituals in the way they unwrapped chocolate bars. The chocolate tasted better. Next, some participants performed rituals in how they prepared to eat carrots. The carrots tasted better.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Gaya Pahahunchao  

Is it because rituals make you pay more attention to your food? Maybe, but sometimes when you pay more attention, you find more flaws. Is it because you are more personally involved with your food?

In the third experiment researchers asked some participants to follow a ritual in making lemonade, while others simply watched the lemonade being made.  The lemonade tasted better to those who made it.

Photo: Courtesy of A Rosa.

Analysis of the data verified that rituals made people become more personally involved in the eating experience, which let them enjoy and value it more.

 

Is it a matter of mindfulness? Do  rituals perhaps prompt people to put judgment aside and focus on present experience? And might it help people to be more tuned into their relationship with food?

Photo: Bridget Edwards. Thanksgiving Cookies.

Sure, they’re kind of cutsey! But you can make them as beautiful as you want. These Thanksgiving cookies are like a gratitude-fortune-cookie mashup. We made ours with our favorite butter shortbread, cut out in heart shapes, like this… but you can really make them any shape you want.

Photo: Bridget Edwards. Thankful Cookie Hearts.

Royal icing acts like gesso, creating a smooth surface on your cookie “canvas” so you and your friends can write messages. The idea is to write your friend’s name on one side of the cookie, then write a gratitude message on the other side. Food coloring pens keep the concept all edible.

Photo: Bridget Edwards. Thanksgiving Cookies.

You can write something that you are grateful for about your friend on their cookie. Or you can asks your friends to each write something they are grateful for on their cookies. Either way, you get the gratitude flowing. And, to make you you all really get the message, just eat it and it will become a sweet part of you!

 

For full instructions, check here.

Photo: Courtesy of Reclaiming Provincial. Vanilla Extract.

Vanilla is a scent of gratitude for me. It signals baking, which signals celebrations with friends and family. A gift of homemade vanilla extract is a beautiful expression.

 

HOMEMADE VANILLA EXTRACT

 

Ingredients:

• two vanilla beans

• 375ml vodka
   

Instructions

• Slit the two beans down the middle

• let them soak in the vodka for a few weeks

Bottle beautifully.

Photo: Courtesy of Real Food Real Deals. Vanilla Extract.

Vanilla vodka is a gift I am personally grateful for. I’ve been making it as a gift to myself for a few years now. But this year, I’m sharing the gratitude with some good friends.

Photo: Courtesy of JadeFlower.

Vanilla vodka has a super-clean flavor that we love best homemade because we can control the vanilla intensity and we keep the sugar out. It’s heady all by itself on some nice big rocks so it doesn’t dilute so fast.

 

Mixed with a shot of Grand Marnier, it’s also a great ping to our childhood memories of creamsicles. You can luxe it up more by adding cream if you want.

 

It’s basically the same recipe as the homemade vanilla extract above, but just increase the ratio of vodka to bean to taste, pour it into a larger flask, and you are all set.

Photo: Courtesy of The Fromagette. Seasonal Compound Butters.

I am so grateful to have a little garden in Manhattan. It’s such a rare privilege, with space being so tight in this city, and high-rises rising up, blocking out the sun and rain and all the good things gardens need.

 

 

Photo: Courtesy of Natural Awakenings. Essential Herbs.

 

This time of year, I tempt fate, leaving the potted herbs, just outside my kitchen door, to grow until the very last minute before frost comes and snatches them away. When it threatens, I snatch them first, clipping bunches of thyme, tarragon, sage, chives, mint, and rosemary… and then I need to figure out something lovely to do with them.

Photo: Courtesy of The Fromagette. Seasonal Compound Butters.

One thing is to let the gratitude ripple out is to use those herbs to make wonderful compound butters, hand rolled and beautifully wrapped, to give, as expressions of gratitude to a foodie friend.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Mobile Cuisine.

 

The Fromagette creates some extraordinary blend recipes that you’ll never find anywhere but from a home kitchen. It’s super easy and fast.

 

Take two sticks of butter, softened at room temperature, and mix in one of the following flavor combinations.

 

• 1 T cointreau, zest of 1 navel orange, 2 T honey

• 1/2 cup minced shallot caramelized in butter until deep golden brown, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, 1T cognac, sprinkle of salt

• 1 T packed chopped tarragon, 1 tsp dijon,  1 T orange juice, zest of one navel orange

• zest of 2 lemons, 2 T chopped thyme, 1 generous tsp. telicherry peppercorns, smashed

• 2 tsp.olive oil,  1T sage,  2 T rosemary,1 T thyme, sprinkle of salt, squeeze of lemon juice - pulse in mini processor
   

Roll the butter mixture into logs. Wrap in waxed paper or natural cellophane. Tie with twine or ribbon. Add a tag or label. It’s nice to include ingredients list and ideas about how to use these beautiful compound butters.

Photo: Courtesy of Bon Apppetit.

Use them on hot biscuits, to grilled steaks, to fish, popcorn, to anything you would normally use butter for.

 

Here’s another killer combo that’s great on pancakes, waffles, and sweet potatoes, to name a few:  Crumbled bacon, maple syrup, bourbon.

 

You see? You can keep going on and on with these!

Photo: Courtesy of Buttery Yum. Candied Lemon Slices.

If life gives you lemons,  use them to show your gratitdue by turning them into a box of jewels. These candied lemon slices are like ethereal sourball wafers. They dance in your mouth with sweet tart crackles. And they look beautiful served with tea, on a candy tray, or perched atop a lemon cupcake or mousse.

Photo: Courtesy of My Sweet Life.

CANDIED LEMON SLICES

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Lemon

• 2 cup sugar

• ½ cup water

• ½ cu lemon juice

• 1 vanilla bean
   

Instructions:
 

1. Bring a small pot of water to boil on the stove and prepare an ice water bath.

2. Slice the lemon very thinly, removing and discarding any seeds.

3. Blanch the lemon slices in the boiling water for a few minutes to remove any bitterness from the fruit, then gently remove the lemons to the ice water bath.

4. Dump the water from the pot and combine ½ cup of fresh wate, lemon juice, sugar and the vanilla bean (sliced lengthwise) and bring to a simmer. Transfer the lemon slices to the hot syrup and simmer for about an hour.

5. When the lemons are to your liking, remove them one by one from the hot syrup to a cooling rack (sprayed with non-stick spray). Chopsticks work very well for this endeavor. Be sure to hold the slice in the air for a moment to let the excess sugar run off and back into the pot.

6. Let the slices cool completely and dry, which takes several hours or overnight. They will firm up, but will always be a little sticky.

7. Once the candied lemon has completely cooled, store in an airtight container separated with wax paper.
    

Note - the lemon infused sugar syrup can be used to make sorbet, ice tea, etc. You can bottle this beautifully and kick your gratitdude up a notch.

Photo: Ryan Dausch. Courtesy of Food 52. Maple Honeycomb Candy.

If you are grateful for a miracle, you might want to try expressing your gratitude with this confection from Merrill Stubbs, co-founder of Food52. She calls it a “miracle of science,” and it does taste like heaven. It is made from just four simple ingredients: baking soda, dark maple syrup, sugar, and Maldon salt. It’s crunchy, airy, and salty caramel deliciousness. Check out her recipe here.

Photo: Steven Depolo.  

Read more about Gratitude, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact in our posts throughout this week, including New Ideas about Gratitude, and The New Science of Gratitude.

 

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Gratitude. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 12.1.13.

 

 

Photo: Courtesy of InterActiveMediaSW.

 

Also, check out our special competition: The Most Beautiful Sound in the World! We are thrilled about this effort, together with SoundCloud and The Sound Agency. And we can’t wait to hear what you’ve got!