a study in pre-processed food

I take pride in the fact that I care about my food.  Not just the way it tastes, but like many a locavore, slow food enthusiast, organic-minded, free range supporter, and whatever else under the sun you may call it, I care about how it gets to my plate.  Growth, harvesting, and shipment are unavoidable histories that belong to each piece of produce, meat, or grain on its way to cooking and consumption.  Learning that history - the story behind the food I eat - is just another part of enjoying food.

In some cases it can take a very small thing to open my eyes to how my concept of 'food' has, in many cases, been turned to the auto-pilot of mass-produced and prepackaged goods.  When I say a small thing, I mean small - as in the size of an almond.

Have you ever seen a fresh almond? - because I hadn't.  Nor had I even thought about the differences between pale, mild, blanched and skinned almonds vs. the dark toffee-brown of roasted almonds; as long as they came ready to eat then my curiosity was sated.

Luckily for me, the restaurant got a delivery of fresh almonds today, and for the first time I was able to inspect a skin-encased green (!) almond.  Fuzzy, and with a firm texture that yields slightly to a gentle squeeze, it reminded me of an under ripe peach.

Being able to see, feel, and taste the almond in its unaltered form made me feel a little more in touch with this particular nut.  I've learned to appreciate how its raw mellow, slightly tangy flavor can, with some human intervention, transform into a robust and firm flesh, and how it can even be coaxed into sweet roasted bitterness and with an almost meaty flavor.  

Now that it's almost the end of April, this tasty little reminder of how fresh food can be so refreshing renews my anticipation for full-fledged farmers' market season.  Bring on the unprocessed, unpackaged, unrefined, un-everythinged food!