When I talk about the American diet with my friends, I usually start with the statement, “More often than not, America is asking the wrong question.”

Here’s an example via a conversation I had with Greg this week:

Greg: I was reading about Chia seeds. I’d like to incorporate Chia seeds into our diet.

Me: Seeds? Why? Do they have a good flavor?

Greg: I don’t know about their flavor, but they are supposed to be a food that is really good for you.

Me: Oh…then let’s clarify: Chia seeds is not a food. It’s an ingredient. So I’m guessing it’s the quinoa of 2014? Just as kale became the spinach of 2012? I believe before that, we were supposed to drink soy milk, go gluten-free, eat more salmon as long as it was caught in the wild, and something about flax. Disgusting, yucky flax.

I can’t tell you the number of times my Mother has complained to me about her health, and said, “I don’t understand why I don’t feel better. I eat plain oatmeal for breakfast every single day, and for lunch, I have a plain chicken breast.”

Or how about the constant stream of media telling us to eat several “small” meals per day, constituted of things such as plain yogurt and handful of almonds?

Those things aren’t food. Those are INGREDIENTS.

I don’t mean to imply all food must be cooked into a complex recipe to be worthwhile, but plain oatmeal ain’t never, in the history of mankind, nourished anyone’s spirit. Unless they were starving, then yes, plain oatmeal would look pretty darned good. Otherwise, it requires a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg, a squirt of honey, and a handful of walnuts. Maybe some raisins. Or cream. Wait…are we thinking steel-cut oatmeal or ground? Great…now I want oatmeal. And if someone comes anywhere near me with that stuff they sell in the envelopes, so full of sugar you can’t even taste the oatmeal, I’m going to walk you straight to the trash. That isn’t food either. Those aren’t even ingredients.

I love plain almonds, when they are toasted and tossed in my salad with an apple cider vinaigrette, radishes sliced as thin as paper, and mandarin oranges. I love chicken, tossed gently in a mixture of cinnamon, salt, and pepper, and served on top of a bed of pumpkin and sage grits. When I eat these “ingredients”, the combination of smells and textures is the heart of our home. It tastes like I’m swallowing a hug.

Food, as it goes down, should refuel the spirit and feed the soul. If that weren’t the case, as animals, we’d be perfectly happy crunching on plain kale and Tavern on the Green would still be closed. It’s such a gorgeous thing, this connection of our tongues to our minds to our stomachs to our spirits. We should enjoy it. We should celebrate it.

I don’t mean celebrate delicious cheeseburgers until we’re gluttonous, followed by daily sessions in the gym, attempting to imbue our existence with a puritanical theme…that’s not nourishing (albeit terribly American). Just simply, every day, I want to eat food that makes me happy and reminds me of a life worth living.

So the following night, after the Chia seed conversation, I made a pizza with a ratatouille based sauce, topped with sweet peppers, pepperoni, mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, and cheese. Sprinkled generously with Chia seeds (and rosemary salt, because I had flaxseed flashbacks just looking at those black things). During our regular game of “guess what Mommy put in it”, nobody guessed Chia seeds (or eggplant, but when they found out it was in the sauce…let the complaining begin…followed by everyone licking their plates).

So…my point was made. If I got my family to eat eggplant, sweet peppers, zucchini, squash, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cheese…why do we need the nutrients in Chia seeds? What’s wrong with your diet that you need to eat a seed that costs $16.99 per pound? Do you know how many heirloom tomatoes I can buy for $16.99? I could make a tomato-vinegar jam and put it on turkey! I could make a spaghetti sauce that would blow your mind! For $16.99, I could make 4 blackberry and peach cobblers and deliver them to my friends. (As it stands, I only made one this week, and the smell alone made me we want to weep with joy).

I’m all for the new thing in cooking…trust me. I read food news word for word. But the new “health” foods? You can keep ’em. And in case you want to know what’s next on the horizon? Lentils are about to make an all-time comeback. They have ZERO flavor, but they are SO good for you. Here’s what you do: make an Italian Salsa Rossa, add cilantro and broth (I know…sounds crazy, but trust me), and some really fine and slightly spicy sausages from your favorite butcher….

Nourish that spirit! Won’t you join me?