Welcome to the very first installment of our weekly Friday interview series, where we talk to local (and non-local) food enthusiasts, cooks, producers, and more about the role that food plays in their lives. This week, we talk to Alaine Janosy, longtime baker and food enthusiast. Currently a Management Consultant in New York City, She has a Pastry and Baking Arts degree (with highest honors) from The Institute of Culinary Education in NYC.
TRE: So Alaine, first of all, I cannot thank you enough for recommending In Defense of Food. It essentially changed the way I will eat for the rest of my life. How did you get started down the path of seriously paying attention to kind you food you eat, beyond just looking at the nutritional facts?
AJ: Since I was little my mom always shopped at the local 'health food store.' This was the time when there was one health food store and it was super small and it carried weird things that no one else I knew ate. I actually just googled the store so I could remember the name of the place that she used to take me and I found this article that actually made me kind of sad even though I have not been to that store in years.
Even though I used to fight her on the health food store thing, I do remember the store very distinctly and the way it felt to be in there and the way it smelled. And I remember that we always used to get these when we would go shopping there - maybe not exactly health food, but they are amazingly delicious w/o being dairy - the mocha one is the best, hands down!
My mom was first diagnosed with breast cancer when I was about 5, and after that she became a vegetarian. From that point onward, the entire way my family ate changed. My mom was a big believer in taking personal initiative to keep herself healthy. After she finished chemo she started eating a lot healthier and exercising more. Since that change happened so early in my life, it is the primary way I remember eating and living. She did not force anyone else in my family to become vegetarian, and she still cooked some meat for me and my dad, but everything was made more healthfully and she started subscribing to cooking magazines like
Cooking Light.
I remember as a kid always wishing that I had the kind of processed food that all my friends had - and although my mom didn't really deny me these things, she did try to encourage the eating of other things. Though I do have to admit when I went grocery shopping with her I would beg endlessly for Lucky Charms and eventually she would relent. But we did all these healthy things eating-wise that are trendy now, but were totally new age and super weird in the late 80s early 90s. We even belonged to a
CSA . We would go and pick up our weekly share from a central location. This was also something I fought because I thought all the vegetables looked gross and I hated having to go with her and go through the bins and weigh out our share, especially in the winter. But in retrospect, all of these things made me the person that I am today in regards to eating.
For a majority of my life, the way I ate was governed by my mother and her 'new agey' ideas - which are now the super trendy way to be ironically. But I would say my own conscious food choices began in college, first by looking at nutrition labels more carefully, and then expanded to being aware of where my food is coming from and how it is made, and what is in it. I would say that my deep consciousness about food is rooted in the way my mother raised me, but I finally made the personal choice to embrace all the things she was trying to teach me when I moved to NYC and started fully controlling everything I ate, because I was routinely cooking for myself. For me, although I still eat meat, the way I choose to eat is not just about the food, it's a whole lifestyle.
TRE: I'm glad you brought that up.
In Defense of Food mentions over and over how our eating habits are formed by our mothers and the prevailing nutritional wisdom of the era when they fed us as children. My parents tried to raise me vegetarian, but I was exposed to meat everywhere else, and eventually started asking for pasta sauce "the real way". But now we aren't being fed by our mothers anymore. It is hard enough to keep our own kitchens free of processed and unhealthy food, but the moment we step out, turn on the TV, or open a magazine, we get bombarded by an industrial food culture. How do you stay on track?
AJ: So, I'm totally no saint when it comes to staying on track. A couple of weekends ago I was at my friend's lake house for the weekend and they have every kind of processed food you could imagine from chips to candy to grilling items like hot dogs. Obviously, I didn't bring my own food for the weekend, so I ate what was there.
I feel like it's important that we make good choices about our food, but at the same time, I don't want to be the kind of person who is so regimented about it that I must bring my own food everywhere I go. I try to explain to the people around me why I eat the way I do, but at the end of the day sometimes I want Tostitos and when they're sitting right in front of me and everyone around me is eating them, I let myself indulge. My willpower is only so strong.
But allowing for these little indulgences and not making myself feel guilty about it makes it easier to eat the way I know I should be the majority of the time. It's the 90/10 rule...if you're conscious 90% of the time about what you're eating, the other 10% of the time you can allow for exceptions in social situations or when you go out to a restaurant.
: How much do you pay attention to calories, carbs, fats, etc. vs. the general wholesomeness (and source) of the food? Does that change if you know you won't be able to cook the food yourself (like at a restaurant)?
AJ: So honestly, I really don't pay attention to calories/carbs/fats that much anymore. I mean I do still look out of habit, but I cook with a lot of olive oil and stuff and I eat ice cream and I drink 1% milk. I think the only thing that I'm still really calorie crazy about is beverages. I wont drink beverages that contain calories unless they are alcoholic (a little crazy, I know). This obviously means that I still drink diet soda. I cannot help it - I LOVE the way artificial sweetener tastes and I just cannot go back to regular soda. BUT, because I do try to limit my intake of such things, this non-caloric beverage obsession has forced me to drink water most of the time and I have stopped putting sweetener in my coffee.
I know that there are a lot of people who cut out whole food groups or eat less fat or less carbs or whatever, but I don't do any of that. Basically I try to eat more fruits and veggies - all purchased at the farmer's market. And other stuff that I eat - generally purchased at Trader Joe's - I read the ingredients label, not the nutrition label, to make a determination as to whether or not I'm okay with eating that thing.
This is a main point where a lot of people would disagree with me, but my primary focus is always 'eat REAL food' and the breakdown of nutrients within that food are SIGNIFICANTLY less important to me, if important at all. I guess in summary, my assumption is that if I'm eating a REAL food then it's wholesome - or as good as it's going to get - and it's especially wholesome when I know exactly where it came from and how it was raised. I try to stay away from pesticides and animals raised with hormones or antibiotics, but that's not always possible - i.e. when you're eating at a restaurant. If I'm making it at home it will never have hormones/antibiotics/pesticides.
But also, at the farmer's market, some farmers are not 'officially' organic because that certification comes from the government and it's expensive. It's really more important in my mind to talk to the farmer and find out how they raise their crops and animals. If you're okay with their practices then it doesn't really matter if they are 'officially' organic. I try to pick restaurants that are known for being healthy/organic/focused on local food and sustainability - but that's not always possible.
I don't ever eat anywhere that you would consider 'fastfood' though. After reading all this stuff I cannot even walk into McDonalds or the like. Another book you should read when you get a chance - although it's a little extreme:
The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Save the World. I like to read stuff like this to make myself think about what I agree with and what I don't.
TRE: It's inspiring to see that you still have plenty of options for eating "real food" even though New York City is so far removed from agriculture and farmland. You mentioned in your first response that eating healthy is "super trendy" now, but missed what I think is an important distinction. I would argue that the majority of the country's eating habits fall into one of two categories: "the industrial food chain" and "the diet culture". People either go for cheap, fast food (which generally means lots of sugars and empty calories), or they are victims of a culture that insists on counting ever calorie and gram of fat (which, in many cases, means eating a lot of foods with artificial ingredients). However, there are still fairly large eating subcultures that most people are not even aware of until they start taking an active interest. Once they start down the path, it can quickly feel like everyone is doing it. Thoughts?
AJ: Well I think, although NYC doesn't make you think of farm country, there is farm country in very close proximity. Hence, why we are able to have so many CSAs and such a robust farmer's market (the biggest one being Union Square, but there are also smaller ones throughout the city). I think that there is still a large segment of our population, probably the majority of our population, who fall into one of the 2 categories you named - especially since the diet industry and the fast food industry are 2 of the most profitable industries in our country.
I guess I am just spoiled because living in NYC I am surrounded by people who are more thoughtful about everything - or at least more exposed to what's new and trendy so they act like they are more thoughtful cause they are 'up' on stuff. I know most people are not as aware of what they put in their body as I am, but it is really uplifting to see that someone like Michael Pollan is able to get his books on the NY Times best seller's list for many many weeks - so at least even if people aren't making changes, they are taking the initiative to learn that there are other ways to do things and that perhaps the nutrition recommendations coming down from the govt or the latest diet book are not the end all be all of eating.
...
Read
Part 2 of my interview with Alaine Janosy.
Aside from having baked for Saveur (in NYC) and Chez Sophie (in Saratoga Springs), she occasionally does pastries for weddings & birthday parties. She can be reached at: alainejanosy@bakeordye.com
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