When you ask people what they know about Mormons, a lot of people know that we don’t drink coffee, or that we don’t smoke or drink alcohol. What they may not know though is that the prophecy that contains these “rules” contains a lot more. In fact the mention about coffee is one verse, in an entire chapter. The rest of the chapter talks about something much more challenging than giving up coffee. The Word of Wisdom is about more than just not drinking coffee and alcohol. But it seems like that is what it is being condensed down to by not only people outside of the church, but inside the church as well.
The other 20 or so verses talk about how we eat. Namely, eating in season. It always drives me crazy when people are practically scorned for a cup of coffee, and yet they eat meat for dinner every night. The Word of Wisdom says to eat meat sparingly, and it should be reserved for the winter and “time of need” – something most Americans don’t even know how to define.
Then the chapter says to eat all of the fruits/veggies/herbs you want in season, and with prudence.
It is with this in mind that B-man and I have kind of officiated our typical diet. I am terrible at cooking meat. So I don’t buy it, because I either end up cooking it poorly, or throwing it out because it went bad before I got to cook it. So the next move should come as no surprise: we are at-home vegetarians. I’m not going to turn down food at some one else’s house, but I am not going to be cooking meat at home any more. It is too much of a waste of money for me. In the same vein, we are going to try and focus on eating only vegetables and fruits that are in-season and grown in America. Shopping in-season makes it very easy to find things grown in America though.
What does this mean? It means we’re eating a lot of sweet potatoes, cabbage, citrus, and potatoes among other things. Last night I made sweet potato and black bean burritos – and they were absolutely delicious.
So tell me, how do you choose which veggies to eat/buy? Do you consider the time of year/growing location of the plants you purchase?
