My inspiration began some 30 years earlier when I met someone while shopping at a health food store where I struggled with the prices that seemed to be inflated.
She was an older woman in her 60s, perhaps, who was desperately looking for foods she could eat. She had suffered a stroke and the doctor had her on a restricted diet. She was baffled; she didn’t know what to buy, much less how to prepare the items on her list.
I wish I could have helped her but I was afraid to mislead her. I didn’t´t know what were such things as quinoa or teff on her list. Luckily, other shoppers seemed to engage with her. She was in dire straights.
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I took that experience as a sign that I was on the right path. We were both trying to eat healthier and I had a lot more time to achieve my goals. I was self-motivated and she was following her doctor´s orders and had very little choice. My heart went out to her and I knew that, in the future, I may be able to help others in the same predicament but I had to help myself first.
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I was well into the path of nutritional self-care when I met her. In my 20s, my doctor suggested that, being a young homemaker, I ought not to get into baking— tests had shown that I was prone to diabetes. He said that if I needed something sweet, I could eat it outside the home. Just don´t bring it home or make it at home.
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At 40, my doctor suggested to let go of table sugar. It was really hard to part with my beloved in my coffee.
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At 75, my AC1 is 6.1—not perfect and not bad; I´ve done well and I strive for better.
Through the health food literature, I became aware of the problematics of white flour products and white rice. They both left me bursting full and, yet, looking for more. Some people are allergic to wheat. Enriched white rice is stripped of nutrients—so much so that they were forced to put some back but not enough to provide adequate nourishment. When I switched to brown rice, I discovered satiation without fullness and the end of constipation. I began to experiment with bean flour bread. I am sure the doctor of my 20s would approve. At 70, I began to bake. The first recipe carried me for five years and now I am playing with refrigerator bread, beer bread, and homemade yogurt muffins—all made with bean flour. Yum, yum.
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Thus, Rosita´s Kitchen was born. Not a restaurant, not a catering service, not a place to get advice but a place to hear some new ideas about healthy food choices and a place to share; a place to get inspired and motivated by listening and sharing.
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Workshop participants are encouraged to share their own experiences with the daunting task of eating healthy against a backdrop of factory farms that flood the supermarkets with genetically modified and processed foods grown on an undernourished earth that produces nutrient-deficient fruits and vegetables.
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I have yet a lot to learn from others who are on similar paths and be reminded why I need to stay on mine. The journey of a thousand steps begins with the first—when we are willing and ready. A period of contemplation claims time and space before getting started.
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The goal of Rosita´s Kitchen is to create a community through conversations among people who are on the path or want to get on the path to healthier eating. The topics can range from food in general to the politics of food production, the intelligence of the bean, food addiction, veganism, animal rights, etc. The idea is to create mutual support, motivation, and inspiration. We do not have to do it alone. Like my sister writer, Lemmy Pérez says, “It´s better together.”
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During preliminary marketing, Rosita´s Kitchen found that many people know they must make some changes to their eating habits and selections and are ready and wanting but don´t know where, when, or how to get started.
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Rosita´s Kitchen encourages participants to keep it simple. Replace or adjust one item at a time. Let your personal knowledge, your medical condition and your taste buds be your guides. Give it time. Taste buds change. The body will tell you if the changes are suitable. Share your success, learn from others. One day at a time.
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Rosita´s Kitchen has many other interests as well—as many as can be tended from the comfort and the safety of a kitchen—Translations (Spanish/English), Tarot Readings, resume writing, feminist consciousness raising, etc.
