This week, Linsey and Doug made an incredible meal, detailed here and here. Linsey made delicious cornbread and corn cake, and told us the vibrational cooking methods they and their mother used to make the dish. Doug and Linsey also made two delicious salads – one from traditional salad greens, and one from the more bitter (and in my opinion, more delicious) mustard and dandelion greens.

Linsey explained the significance of sugar in cornbread; or, more specifically, that if you put sugar in your cornbread, it’s corn cake. It was interesting to learn about the history of cornbread in her family and the importance of the ingredients used. My theory is that corn”bread” only needs sugar these days because we have bred our corn to be high in starch, which limits the natural sweetness of corn. I would guess that before the corn boom in America, cornbread didn’t need sugar to taste sweet. But these days, to maintain that flavor, sugar (or high fructose corn syrup, ironically) must be added.

Doug harvested some delicious dandelion and mustard greens, which just always taste healthy to me. There is something in the bitterness that makes me feel connected to my food and the soil it grows in. Industrially farmed greens can lose some of that earthy flavor, but the ones he prepared were so delicious and filling.