By Ed Bruske
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, July 19, 2006; F01
Just when you thought you'd gotten your arms around the food pyramid, along comes a whole new category of foods that promoters say we absolutely, positively must include in our diet.
Depending on whose list you're looking at, there may be 12 or 14 or even 20 of these so-called super foods, things such as salmon and broccoli and soybeans and -- just to sweeten the pot a little -- dark chocolate.
According to the latest advice, these foods are super because they contain loads of vitamins and minerals and help fight cholesterol and keep us healthy. But what I really want to know is, do I have to be a super cook to make these super foods?
It seemed to me there should be some super method of cramming all these extremely-good-for-you foods into one or two recipes. Perhaps it was simply a matter of matching super foods with a super kitchen tool.
For a time I pondered my blender. A blender is good for taking several different ingredients and turning them into an easily digested beverage. At least that has been my experience with super cocktails. But the more I thought about it, the more questions the blender raised. For instance, does a salmon-blueberry-tofu smoothie qualify as a super entree, or a super dessert?
Then I thought the answer might be a technique. An oatmeal-sweet potato souffle didn't sound right. But soup seemed like just the ticket. You can put almost anything into a pot, cover it with broth and call it a soup. But then I had this terrifying image of my food-obsessed friends trying my soup and bursting into laughter: "How cliche! You took all the super foods and dumped them into a soup!"
There simply was no getting around it: These super foods would have to be considered individually. Fortunately, there's nothing really new or mysterious about super foods.
Remember the broccoli your mother was always trying to get you to eat?
Super food.
Remember her telling you to finish your spinach?
Super food.
Remember the oatmeal she used to make for you on those cold winter mornings?
Right again: super food.
Turns out super foods are standard ingredients. Just tape a list of them to your refrigerator door so you remember what they are. And don't worry. Cooking with super foods is super easy.
Ed Bruske, a personal chef and freelance writer, last wrote for Food about the spreadsheet diet.