Cornmeal "Fried" Pickle Chips Recipe + Honest Thoughts about Food and Health
My thoughts on reconciling gustatory pleasure with eating for optimal health.
I have a little story today that I think some of you can relate to.
Long before I decided to go vegan, and long before I cleaned up my diet following my cancer diagnosis, I was not so much a “health person” as I was a “food person”. I quit my corporate career and went to culinary school not to kickstart a wellness career (which wasn’t really yet a thing back then, anyway) but because I was obsessed with food, being in the kitchen and all things culinary. I was much more likely to flip through Larousse Gastronomique than The China Study, and I dreamed about going on shopping sprees at E. Dehillerin, not Erewhon.
Fast forward 10+ years - a lot has happened since I donned chef’s whites and kitchen clogs for the first time. I’ve learned a great deal about the impact that our diet has on the environment, our health and longevity. I’ve experienced life-altering medical trauma. It’s no surprise that my food choices are different now. It’s hard for me to justify certain foods anymore - even some vegan ones - if I know they are raising my risk for cancer or other disease. Part of this is, admittedly, PTSD from everything I went through (fear and trauma keep me on a tight rope), but it’s also because I’ve experienced firsthand how switching up your plate can take you from feeling “meh” to “better than I’ve felt since childhood”. Passing on the sugar, processed stuff, animal products, etc. quite literally feels amazing; it’s hard to go back to things that you know will lessen your quality and length of life.
And while adhering 100% to a super strict diet has its place - for example, if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness/condition, it’s worthwhile to try a rigid healing regimen - sometimes eating this way all the time feels difficult. Cooking and eating for gustatory pleasure sometimes can feel like a thing of the past for me; I used to have the type of romance with food and drink that you see on shows like Julia and Somebody Feed Phil and Searching for Italy (all amazing shows, btw, you must watch!). I’ve grappled with reconciling the known health effects of certain beloved foods (fried and white things, mmmm), alcohol (red wine and Aperol Spritzes, mmmm), and finishing off a dish with a knob of Miyoko’s butter or a glug of good olive oil and…optimal health. They don’t really go hand in hand, which is a tough pill to swallow for someone who chose their career path based on an all consuming love for these things.
I openly struggle with perfectionism and obsessive thinking, which muddies the waters quite a bit for me; balance in all areas of life is elusive. So, I certainly don’t want to give off the impression that dietary purity is what we all need to aspire to - I personally can’t uphold those standards all the time (as much as the critical, nasty little voice in my head would like me to). It’s human to want to eat things that aren’t great for us but still taste really good. So, how do we balance wellness and pleasure? It’s an important question, because neither is sustainable without the other.
For me, choosing a diet of least harm - to myself and others - is a good baseline. As long as I’m eating plant based, I know that doing something positive for my health and I’m minimizing my impact on global warming and the pain/suffering of animals (vs. the Standard American Diet). As for my stance on “unhealthy” vegan food? I am not sure I’ll ever be able to permanently swear off things that don’t fit neatly into the category of “Whole Food Plant Based”. Eating for health roughly 85% of the time (which, for me, is minimally processed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans/legumes, nuts/seeds, herbs and spices, all things I genuinely love to cook and eat) and allowing some less “pristine” foods to slip in occasionally (for me, it’s white pasta, crusty bread, deep fried things, tortilla chips and wine/Spritzes) keeps me feeling mentally healthy and balanced.
As much as I’m terrified of getting cancer again (or any other chronic disease, for that matter), I love to remind myself that my beloved Sicilian grandmother lived to the age of 101.5, her life nearly free of health issues until the very end. She ate pasta and Italian pastry multiple times a week, and basically never exercised (though she was on her feet all day cooking and cleaning!).
Life should be enjoyed, and no one benefits from stress surrounding food. We just have to be careful not use that as a way to justify regular harmful habits - certain things are too damaging to the environment and our bodies to consume even “once in a while” (just as I’d never advise you to let loose and smoke a cigarette now and then, the same holds true for bacon, hot dogs and the like). Moderation is a slippery slope; it’s up to us to be honest about what we’re regularly eating, how frequently we indulge, and take ultimate responsibility for our choices and how they impact our health and the planet.
With all that said, one of my favorite not-so-perfect indulgences are deep fried pickles. In the interest of my health, I try to order them infrequently, and make this better-for-you version at home whenever the craving strikes.
Cornmeal “Fried” Pickle Chips
Recipe by Lauren Kretzer
Serves 4
Ingredients
· 24 oz. jar of whole dill pickles
· ½ cup all purpose flour
· ½ cup unsweetened plain soymilk (or plant milk of choice)
· 2 tsp arrowroot powder
· ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
· ½ cup cornmeal
· 1/8 tsp cayenne powder (optional)
· ½ tsp garlic powder
· ½ tsp Italian seasoning
· ½ tsp salt
· Non-aerosol olive oil cooking spray
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper or a reusable silicone baking mat.
Trim the ends of each pickle and slice whole pickles into 1/4” slices. Once all pickles are sliced, press a paper towel on top of pickle slices to absorb excess liquid.
Prepare breading stations for pickles: in one shallow bowl, place flour. In second shallow bowl, whisk together soymilk and arrowroot powder. In third shallow bowl, combine panko breadcrumbs, cornmeal, cayenne powder (if using), garlic powder, Italian seasoning and salt.
Dip each pickle slice into flour, then in soymilk, shaking off excess liquid, then in breadcrumb/cornmeal mixture. Place each breaded pickle slice on baking sheet, about 1/2” apart. Once all pickle slices are breaded and on baking sheet, lightly mist tops of breaded pickles with extra virgin olive oil.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and flip each pickle slice, misting the opposite side with olive oil. Place back in oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until pickle chips are golden brown and crispy.
I agree with what you wrote. We're all best off by sticking to a good diet on a regular basis but we also can "indulge" every once-in-a-while with a favorite "treat". In this fashion, we feed BOTH our physical and emotional needs in a way that is least harmful and most sustainable.