Have you heard of orthorexia nervosa? For those who haven’t – it is defined as an eating/mental disorder characterised by preoccupation with avoiding food perceived to be unhealthy. Over the past few years our society has formed a slight obsession with healthy eating, counting calories and various dietary inventions, which all seem to be labelled as”the best/healthiest”. To name a few: Atkins diet, vegetarian (being the most harmless), pescetarian, vegan, raw-food-diet and saving the best for last – fruitarianism (these people literally only eat what naturally falls from a plant). What happened to simply enjoying food? I am fully aware that eating meat on a daily basis isn’t at all sustainable and shouldn’t be done. However, I could never give up any type of food, especially not animal derived products. But, being a foodie, from time to time I take an interest in these bizarre diets. A non-vegan friend of mine recently had an interest in trying to make a vegan dessert – she chose vegan banana ice-cream. Imagine succeeding in making super healthy and ultimately tasty ice cream without animal fat?? Sadly, it was a bad introduction to veganism. Some things are just not meant to be recreated without animal products. What is ice cream without cream (and no – coconut milk/cream does not count as a substitute when taking the penetrating, lingering, out of place coconut flavour into account!)?? Well, basically frozen mashed fruit, so frozen baby food. YUMMY. NOT. I mean, it was actually quite tasty, I love mashed banana, but seriously, how is this ice cream?
After this experience, in an attempt to make a non-vegan healthier version of ice-cream, I decided to try making frozen yoghurt. Bought frozen yoghurt is definitely just as satisfying as full on italian gelato (unlike vegan frozen mashed fruit) and healthier. So I figured home made fro-yo was worth the try. It was – not quite as creamy (sadly, I don’t have an ice-cream maker so creaminess is hard to achieve) as bought fro-yo, but definitely delicious and enjoyable. Still not ice-cream, but a much better alternative to the failed vegan attempt.
The Medical Gourmet 