Vegetables and How I Cook Them

Appears in
Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables

By Abra Berens

Published 2019

  • About

Jim Harrison, northern Michigan’s favorite son and food lover, once told me, “One of the main causes of premature death is fretting about your diet.” He then topped up my glass of wine.

His words stuck with me. At the time, he was talking about calorie counting and being overly concerned with gluten, white foods, too much protein, too much sugar, the day in and day out bombardment of what we should be eating, and observing that the bulk of those “shoulds” are divorced from the land and our bodies. It was the fret that rang in my ears. I think about food (and by extension my diet) for more than eight hours every day—it is my work and my home life.