Our local Meetup group, Houston Real Food Nutrition, had a fantastically successful meeting last night at Partners in Paleo in League City.  Over thirty members and guests attended the event.  Susan Doiron gave an exceptionally thorough demonstration of making fermented vegetables and fruits.  Her goals were to show us how easy it is to make healthy, probiotic fermented foods and to inspire us to get started making our own.  Susan loves to cook and her enthusiasm for teaching others was quite apparent.  She was tireless as she talked about how to make fermented vegetables and fruits.  One of the best parts of her demonstration was that we all got to taste every one of the many different foods she brought with her.  Lucky us–she provided her recipes for all of them!  I ate all of the samples which included some very spicy ones, some with exotic flavors, and some that were just everyday delicious.  By the way, she had several capable volunteer assistants, including Jamie in the photo with Susan.  Fermented foods are an excellent aid to digestion and are good to eat as a condiment with each meal.  Susan said that her foray into making fermented foods began several years ago when she was inspired by the traditional cookbook Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

While Susan demonstrated and provided samples, we were served a delicious paleo meal prepared by Jeanette Pearson, the chef/owner of Partners in Paleo.  We were offered a choice of pastured chicken or grassfed beef.  I chose the beef and was treated to braised oxtail served with creamed cauliflower and carrot soufflee.  I ate all of my meat and vegetables, and (don’t tell anybody) even ate around all those wonderful bones. I didn’t want to miss a single bite of the very flavorful and tender grassfed beef.  Those who had the chicken (stuffed with spinach and garlic) seemed to enjoy theirs as much as I did my beef.

I am excited that so many people in Houston are really interested in eating healthy, nutrient-dense food!  As of the last count, we have 99 members in our Meetup group which was only set up last September!  Wow, almost 100!  We are planning more demos in the future, on subjects like making bone broth, kefir, and yogurt plus more presentations on subjects like nutrient-dense foods, raw milk, fats, and many more.  We’re also hoping to be able to show movies and videos about Real Food, nutrition, and health.  We want to have meetings in other locations around the area and are open to suggestions.  Please join us if you are interested in learning and sharing with others who want to eat Real Foods for better health!