You know how in the early aughts we were all told that bananas were the devil, sent to this planet to destroy our diets and waist lines with more sugar in one serving than a bowl of vanilla ice cream? I feel a similar campaign was unfairly launched against nightshades.
The rules are always changing. And while I still fear non-organic strawberries with a terror typically reserved for imaginary sharks in the deep end of swimming pools, I’m over this idea that nightshades are going to kill me. And if they do, I demand a New York Times obit, saying just that.
‘GUYS, THE NIGHTSHADES GOT HER’.
Personally, I think most of our inflammation comes from processed sugars, oils, and spending too much time staring at pictures of ourselves on our i-Phones.
The Mediterranean diet, which according to most cardiologists we should all be following, is filled with peppers, beans, tomatoes, and of course eggplants. SO HOW CAN THEY BE THAT BAD?
According to Ayurvedic medicine, beans are pacifying and helpful for Pitta, Vatta, and Kapha doshas. (If that sentence meant nothing to you, feel free to ignore and just nod along.) Whenever I eat lentils or peas, I instantly feel grounded and warm.
I rarely eat meat. And when I got off chicken last fall and started eating strictly fish, I received a letter from the state of NYC telling me that my mercury levels were off the charts.
I knew I couldn’t keep eating tuna salad for every meal, so I started searching for a vegetarian alternative that wasn’ overly processed soy burger or disgusting tempeh bacon. I wanted something that felt filling and not like a side dish. And since it felt like the lesser of all evils, I turned to eggplant. When I first made these for dinner, I devoured four of them for lunch.
If you have tahini left over from the cauliflower recipe I posted a few weeks back, now’s the time to use it.
Hope you love this one as much as I do!