Eat more

Kate Underwood, Food Editor @relishthememory @eat.newzealand

When I say eat more, I’m not talking about overflowing plates that induce stomach aches and naps. I’m speaking to a simple yet powerful focus on expanding the diversity and range of the foods we eat. For example, more colours = more vegetables = more nutrients.

It’s an obvious yet compelling argument that works towards supporting our health, the well-being of future generations, and the health of our planet. Eating a wider variety of foods increases our overall nutrient intake; it changes the makeup of our gut microbiome and, for me, most importantly, provides an opportunity to acquire delicious new food experiences. The gutbrain axis is a phenomenon gaining momentum worldwide as scientists learn more about the connection between how our intestinal state affects our brain function and how the key to a good mood could lie in our food.

On a societal and environmental level, eating more, particularly locally and seasonally grown, helps create demand for more biodiversity in our food systems. With the increase in monocrops, lower nutrient soil, and high-input farming, we’re at risk of losing access to rare species and key nutrients or diseases taking out entire crops. Farmers’ markets are a brilliant place to find interesting fruit and vegetable breeds and allow you to ask the growers directly about the nuances in their characteristics and flavour.

The Koanga Institute in Hawkes Bay is an incredible food forest here in Aotearoa that gives me hope for the future of our precious kai. They’re working hard to save forgotten fruit trees and unique vegetable varietals. It’s home to New Zealand’s largest collection of heritage food plants and seeds, and they’re helping educate and inspire others on their own regenerative growing journey.

Over the holidays, a friend told me how she had challenged herself to consume 50 different ingredients over a week. It made me think about how our purchasing and cooking behaviours can become habitual. We resort to buying the same foods and have our go-to recipes on repeat. Flicking through a cookbook, trying a new recipe, or swapping out an ingredient can be a simple way to feel re-inspired. It might be choosing cauliflower instead of always broccoli, shallots instead of onions, dabbling in a different apple variety or experimenting with goat’s milk cheese in your next toastie.

Focusing on expansion instead of restriction helps shift the narrative around food to being positive and celebratory – exactly how I think it should be. In practice, ‘eating more’ may look like ordering a dish on a menu with an ingredient you’ve never heard of. Experimenting with pearl barley instead of rice or replacing beef mince with venison. Try sprinkling North Canterbury-grown hemp hearts on your blueberries and yoghurt for crunch, or rediscover a lesser-used herb – like my current favourite – tarragon.

I’m convinced that if we choose to expand our palate and diversify our intake, we’ll have more fun with the food we eat and get what we need to expand our minds and diversify our planet.