The Paleo Restaurant: Sauvage (Berlin)

I haven't been able to order absolutely everything off of a restaurant menu since January, 2010.  Since I first got into the real food lifestyle on February 1st of that year, almost every restaurant trip has left me frustrated with how little options I had... or has me driving the waiters crazy with the typical "No bread, no rice, no sauce, can I have double veggies instead?"  And except for during my trip to Paris a few months ago, I haven't ever been able to order dessert.

But that all changed when, last Tuesday, I experienced one of the best meals of my life in Berlin at Sauvage, the "world's first Paleolithic restaurant."  (I'd like to thank Paul from Living in the Ice Age for reminding me about it!)  Here is the sign that greeted me when I arrived, which made me fall in love with the place immediately:

Besides the fact that I was insanely excited about this place since making reservations the week before (seriously: make reservations if you plan on going, because this place got packed!), the following sign, displayed right when you walk in, made me really go into excitement over-drive:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is so nice to walk into a restaurant and know that I won't "get glutened" or have a terrible reaction to processed crap, vegetable oil, grain-fed meat, or hidden sugar.  It's been two years since I haven't had to worry about that, and going to Sauvage has restored my faith in eating out (though now that I'm back in the UK-- and heading back to the US in a few months-- I'm going to be sad that a Paleo restaurant doesn't exist in either country.... yet).  Words seriously can't describe how excited I was for this meal!

The restaurant only seats up to forty people, and it was so cozy-- it had a very rustic feel, and dinner was 100% by candlelight, which added to the feeling that, oh my god, I'm eating in a Paleo restaurant!

Although the menu was entirely in German, the waiters were more than happy to translate every single dish for us-- and everything sounded more delicious than the next.  My mom and I each got an appetizer: cauliflower soup with their gluten/grain-free bread and butter, and the Paleo antipasti plate, which had everything from seed-based crackers to cabbage to olives to garlic to eggs.  Both dishes were so good!

  

For the main course, we ordered the "Steak Sauvage"--which was 100% grass-fed with caramelized red onion, chives, capers, garlic, and green pepper-- and a veal dish with roasted cauliflower, dates, paprika, mint, and sesame.  Nom!!   

Dessert was incredible, and it was so awesome to be able to order it!!  They offered two different desserts, so we ordered both and split them.  The first one was a dark chocolate and hazelnut tort with a wild berry sauce, and the second was a lavender-honey cake with their homemade ricotta and hibiscus sauce (with an almond crust).  So yummy!!  

This meal was amazing.  (It was also pretty reasonably priced for such high-quality food.  Our appetizers were in the €6-€9 range, our entrees from €17- €23, and desserts were €4.90 and €6.90.  They also do not accept credit cards.)  Not only was the food itself absolutely delicious, but the atmosphere, staff, and everything else about the restaurant made this an experience that I will never forget. 

Thank you, Sauvage, for a truly fantastic meal and night.

Quote of the Day:

"Paleo Cuisine is based on the dietary habits of our prehistoric ancestors, but doesn't tend to mimic how prehistoric men ate.  The Modern Paleo cook combines evolutionary science with contemporary cuisine and ancestral cooking methods."  -Sauvage website

A Paleo Poem

Many, many years ago, our ancestors gathered and they hunted--
they lived in caves, ate off the land, and instead of talking, they grunted.
No modern diseases plagued them, for they were healthy and strong:
the antithesis of today's owrld... So then what the heck went wrong?
The cavemen lived on meat and fat, yet "experts" now claim both can kill,
so why are humans sicker now with that advice and modern pills?

Our ancestors moved frequently, they walked and hiked at a slow pace--
and they certainly weren't chained to desks for the eight hours of the rat race.
They lifted heavy natural things, not just 5-pound weights in local gyms,
and sometimes they even sprinted (away from tigers to keep their limbs!).

They didn't have computers, phones, TVs and cable, or the iPad--
Apples and blackberries were simply fruits, and a jaguar was the next meal to be had.
Their circadian rhythms were perfect: no late nights or early mornings--
they slept with the moon and woke with the sun and had no need for electronic warnings.
There's no doubt our lifespans exceed theirs-- sure, theirs averaged thirty years,
but we have sanitation and modern medicine, while they had different fears:
infections and natural accidents, being chased by mammoths and bears--
so it's unfair to use that argument, for they had totally different cares!
But there was no obesity or cancer-- no Neolithic Agents of Disease,
no high blood pressure or autoimmune conditions, and no type-2 diabetes.

Those came only after Agriculture in about 8000 BC,
when humans shrunk and started getting sick, and changed was society.
We stopped following the wisdom of our previous generations--
we settled down and changed the Earth, and we are now just fast food nations.
We moved away from real food-- now we have packaged meals and bread,
which contains the evils gluten and wheat-- or "Satan's excrements" (as Robb said)--
that really mess up our bodies and health.  Go and read Wheat Belly,
which gives a lot of reasons why you should give up your PB & jelly.

Strange "products" run amok now, and weird chemicals lace our food--
Big Macs aren't really meat-- I doubt that "cow" had ever mooed!
"Low fat" everything lines the shelves, and you can blame that all on Keys,
who scared people out of eating fat-- but it does NOT cause heart disease!
And those "healthy whole grains" aren't healthy-- they cause your blood sugar to get scary,
and it's insulin issues that make you fat-- go check out these books by a guy named Gary.
Sugar is the new cocaine-- yet it's still legal (even though it's harmful!),
which is why food companies put it everywhere-- it keeps you buying things by the armful.
The obesity crisis is getting worse: people are fat, sick, and so unhealthy,
Big Pharma and Agribusiness don't want to help-- they just want to get wealthy.
Don't listen to government regulations-- Monsanto is tied to the FDA,
so take your health into your own hands and listen to what ancestral wisdom has to say.
Go back more than 10,000 years ago, go back to eating good fats and meat,
and fruits and veggies and nuts and seeds (and dark chocolate as an occasional treat!).

Purge the pantry of those "healthy" grains, of those legumes and snacks and boxes.
Eat wild, buy organic, and perhaps try the 30- or 21-day sugar detoxes.
Just say no to GMOs, and don't venture into center aisles,
go out in the sun and play-- you'll get both your daily Vitamin D and smiles.
Sleep a lot in a dark, dark room; lift heavy things and move...
Perhaps this all sounds overwhelming, but don't worry: you'll get in the groove.
Maybe you still need some help: have no idea what to eat daily?
Go on over to Fast Paleo, or buy this amazing book by Bill and Hayley.
Mark's Daily Apple is so helpful-- it's got a ton of information,
and check out Nom Nom Paleo for her latest culinary creation.
You can raise a family on this lifestyle too: check out Paleo Parents Stacy and Matt,
or Everyday Paleo (the book and blog)-- they'll all prove how you can do that!
Knowledge is certainly power, but most people have no nutritional knowledge of any kind,
so why not read The Paleo Solution, or Primal Body, Primal Mind,
or go back even further: check out the work by Weston A. Price,
who looked at nutrition and dental health (and found if you eat well, your teeth are nice!).
Learn to question everything: seek answers and find the truth,
don't listen blindly to doctors who don't know better-- they won't lead you to the fountain of youth!
Many answers lie simply in our past: in natural food and lots of sun,
in moving and playing and lifting and sleeping, and not needing technology to have fun.
Though the world has changed since the cavemen, we can still look to their lives
and find the keys to optimal health... because we don't just want to live: we want to thrive.

Quote of the Day:
"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."  -Robert Frost

Lemon-Ginger Chocolate Fudge

I've recently fallen in love with the combination of ginger and chocolate-- the two flavors complement each other really well!  I also love the combinations of lemon (something summery to go with this warm weather!) and ginger, and lemon and chocolate... so why not make an awesome lemon/ginger/chocolate treat, especially since chocolate is now everywhere with Easter coming up soon?  I originally thought I could make little chocolate eggs, but once this started chilling in the fridge, I decided that the egg idea wasn't going to work out for me... and instead I realized I had made fudge!!  Nom!!  (Also, cool stuff: an NPR article came out a few days ago, citing some research that chocolate consumption favorably influences your metabolism and can help keep you lean.  Whoot!)  

Ingredients:
-100g dark chocolate (I used 85%)
-1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
-25g butter
-2 1/2 tbsp. ginger
-lemon zest from 1 lemon

Directions:
1.  Break up dark chocolate and place in a bowl.
2.  Combine all other ingredients in a pan over medium heat and stir well.
3.  When mixture boils, pour over dark chocolate and stir.  (You could pour it into a small tray here, but I just kept it in the bowl.)
4.  Place in refrigerate until set (4-5 hours).  Slice up and enjoy!

Quote of the Day:

"Chocolate is the first luxury.  It has so many things wrapped up in it:  Deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good."  -Mariska Hargitay

Primal Three-Cheese Aubergine Parmesan

I randomly bought an eggplant-- sorry, aubergine-- last week. Originally I was going to throw it in a curry, but that didn't pan out... so what the heck was I going to do with an entire aubergine/eggplant? (By the way, I love the fact that they call it aubergine here in the UK-- it sounds much more appetizing than eggplant.  The first time I saw it by this name in the grocery store, I became really confused because I had no idea it wasn't universally called eggplant in English.) Eggplant parmesan is absolutely delicious, but I hadn't had it in a long time due to gluten... but duh, I realized I could just substitute the flour/bread crumbs with coconut or almond flour! So here's my version of a three-cheese aubergine parmesan! (That sounds so much more impressive than eggplant parmesan.)

Ingredients:

For aubergine/eggplant:

-1 large aubergine/eggplant, peeled and sliced thinly

-1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

-1/3 cup coconut (or almond) flour

-1 tsp. basil

-1 tsp. oregano

-1 tsp. black pepper

-1 egg

For sauce:

-2 cans chopped tomatoes

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-1/2 large onion, chopped

-2 tbsp. basil

-2 tbsp. oregano

-2 tbsp. black pepper

-2 tbsp. olive oil

For fillings/toppings:

-1 cup grated parmesan cheese

-1 cup full-fat ricotta cheese

-100 g full-fat mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF (approx. 190ºC).

2. Beat one egg in a bowl, and add a tablespoon of water to create an egg wash. Combine the flour, basil, oregano, pepper, and parmesan cheese on a large plate (or in another bowl). Dip aubergine in egg, then cover in flour/cheese/herb mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet.

3. Cook for 30 minutes, flipping the eggplant halfway through.

4. To create the tomato sauce, add olive oil to a pan on medium heat, then add onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and spices/herbs and stir well, then let simmer for 10-15 minutes/until sauce thickens.  (I started making the sauce after flipping the eggplant-- the timing worked out perfectly!)

5. Pour some sauce along the bottom of a baking dish (I used a 19cm X 34cm one), then add a layer of eggplant and top with ricotta cheese. Add another layer of sauce, then eggplant, then add mozzarella cheese. Add sauce, then eggplant, then finally top with parmesan cheese.

6. Bake at 400º F (200º C) for 20 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!

Check this out:
A new book on the ancestral/Paleo/Primal lifestyle is coming out at the end of April!  Instinctive Fitness, by Oliver Selway from paleotraining.co.uk, will be released on April 27, and you should definitely check this out-- if you sign up on the book's site, you can read the first two chapters now!

Quote of the Day:
"I don't believe in low-fat cooking."  -Nigella Lawson

Tikka Masala-Inspired Coconut Beef Curry and "The Six C's"

I have nothing but positive memories of Indian food-- in fact, some of my fondest memories of high school and college are connected to Indian restaurants! Going out for Indian was a tradition in high school after speech tournaments, and it's also a tradition with my friends at Penn-- we go to Sitar for pretty much all celebrations (my friend from Penn visited me here a few weeks ago, so of course we went out for Indian!). I also love Indian restaurants because I can always find something on the menu, and I've never gotten a bad reaction reaction (i.e. "been glutened") from one either. When I first came here, I couldn't find spices at reasonable prices in Tesco or Sainsbury's (note: they're reasonably priced at Lidl, which I didn't find out until later), so I stocked up on (cheap!) Indian spices at a Middle Eastern market-- my first week in Edinburgh was spent eating ghetto versions of my favorite Indian dishes. Indian food every day? Dream come true! (Here's my recipe from last spring for butter chicken/murgh makhani.)

I could go on about how much I love Indian food all day, but instead I'm going to give you two recipes that work amazingly together: Tikka Masala-Inspired Coconut Beef Curry and "The Six C's."

The first dish is inspired by chicken tikka masala, which A) is my favorite Indian dish, and B) was allegedly created in the UK, and was even called "Britain's true national dish"! Beef is not typically used in Indian cuisine, but I had a pack of minced beef, so I decided to make beef tikka masala. Then I realized there's no one recipe for tikka masala (tikka refers to the meat or marinade, and masala just means "mixture of spices"), so I looked up a bunch and formed my own; but instead of using yogurt as a base for my curry, I went with coconut milk instead so any non-dairy eaters can enjoy this too (and I also threw in some extra coconut in general). I also didn't marinate the meat first because I used ground beef-- so this is more like a chili, I suppose; but if you use other cuts of meat, definitely make a marinade first. I wasn't totally sure what to call this recipe-- it's not beef tikka masala for the aforementioned changes and ground beef isn't typically used in curries, but it's not really chili either... But I decided to call it a curry, so here's my Tikka Masala-Inspired Coconut Beef Curry. (By the way, don't believe the "Red meat will kill you!" articles that have been everywhere lately-- that study was an example of bad science. Check out responses from Robb Wolf, Denise Minger, Gary Taubes, Chris Kresser, J. Stanton, Stanley A. Fishman, Zoe Harcombe, and Dr. Joe Leonardi.)

Ingredients for Tikka Masala-Inspired Coconut Beef Curry:

-900 g minced beef

-1 large onion, chopped

-2 tbsp. coconut oil

-1 can of stewed tomatoes

-2 tbsp. tomato paste

-1 cup full-fat coconut milk

-2 tbsp. garam masala

-3 tsp. coriander

-3 tsp. cumin

-3 tsp. paprika

-3 tsp. turmeric

-2 tbsp. ginger

-3 tbsp. garlic

-2 tsp. cayenne pepper

-2 tsp. black pepper

-2 tsp. curry powder

-2 tsp. chili powder

-3 tbsp. lemon juice

-3 tsp. cinnamon

-3 tbsp. slivered almonds (optional)

-3 tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes (optional: add more for garnish)

1. Heat coconut oil in a pot. With the heat on high, add in onions and stir frequently, then keep adding in spices and stirring until onions appear to be done.

2. Add in beef and cook until brown.

3. Add in tomatoes and stir well. Then add in coconut milk, almonds, and coconut flakes. Stir well, then bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for approximately 45 minutes.

I originally wanted to serve this over cauliflower rice, but my lack of food processor and the fact that I was using frozen cauliflower led to an epic fail. So I decided instead to do mashed cauliflower with some spices. It coincidentally turned out that all of my ingredients started with the letter "C"... So here's "The Six C's": Cumin-Coriander-Cinnamon-Curry Coconut Cauliflower!

Ingredients for "The Six C's":

-750 g cauliflower (I used frozen)

-1/2 cup coconut milk

-2 tbsp. cumin

-2 tbsp. coriander

-3 tbsp. cinnamon

-2 tbsp. curry powder

1. Boil cauliflower in a pot until soft. Drain water.

2. Mash cauliflower, slowly adding in the coconut milk. Stir and add in the spices. Keep stirring and mashing until you get the consistency that you want. (I left my cauliflower a bit chunkier, but you can certainly mash until very smooth.)

2012 Paleo Community Survey:

Naturally Engineered has just released the second annual Paleo Community Survey. It only take a few minutes to fill out, so it'd be great if you can do it! Click!

Quote of the Day:

"This curry was like a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that I'd once heard... especially the last movement, with everything screaming and banging 'Joy.' It stunned, it made one fear great art. My father could say nothing after the meal." -Anthony Burgess

Paleo in Paris!

I recently came back from an amazing trip with my family to Paris. This was my first time in the city, and I absolutely loved it-- it was everything I had hoped and imagined it would be, and I would definitely love to go back there one day.

When you think of French food, chances are bread/baguettes and pastries (croissants, eclairs, palmiers, macarons, madeleines...) are on your list. I was amazed at just how many patisseries (pastry shops) and boulangeries (bakeries) were in Paris-- I'm pretty sure you can't go a block without seeing one! Everything looked and smelled delicious, and I guarantee you if I weren't Paleo/Primal, I would've eaten everything in sight. Paris is a carb-lover's heaven!

It's also a cheese-lover's heaven-- I absolutely love French cheese (I've always been a huge fan of Brie and Munster; but after trying Camembert this week, that might be my new favorite), and I'm pretty sure I ate more cheese in those five days in France than I have in the last few months. I think it's fantastic that you can order cheese for dessert-- the plate usually comes with a few little slices of cheese and some lettuce. Nom! (Okay, so cheese isn't technically Paleo, but it falls into what Mark Sisson calls the "Primal gray area." For more information on this lifestyle and cheese, check out some of Mark's links: The Definitive Guide to Dairy, Would Grok Chow the Cheese Plate?, and Is Cheese Unhealthy?)

Bakeries and pastry shops aren't frequent in Edinburgh or my area of Philadelphia (NYC is a different story... my childhood was black & white cookies from Hot & Crusty, and now those cupcake stores are all the rage), and it's actually quite difficult for me to find real butter and full-fat cheese here in Scotland... so how is it that the French are so much healthier than the Americans and Scottish? How is it that the French can live on heavy cream, butter, and cheese (because, y'know, fat is so bad for you, and low-fat soy products are the way to go) and still have lower rates of heart disease than many other countries who eat less fat?

It's the French paradox... which really isn't a paradox if you know that fat doesn't make you fat or cause heart disease. And although we know that bread products are bad (and actually do make you sick and fat), the French have a totally different food culture than the US or UK. In French Women Don't Get Fat, Mireille Guiliano explains all of this-- after spending a year in the US for high school, she went back to France much heavier after experiencing the American food culture (or lack thereof...). Her book explains how she lost the weight by following traditional French food values (such as small portions, no snacking, fresh ingredients, sitting down and savoring your meal, and drinking a lot of water), which will keep you [relatively] healthy for life. The French aren't low-fat obsessed, they don't super-size (despite the amount of McDonald's around... check out this NPR article about McDonald's in France), they don't go for second or third helpings, and they don't rush (or stand) through their meals.

Hmm... fresh ingredients, water, no snacking, full-fat, and savoring your meals? Sounds pretty Paleo/Primal to me! Actually, I didn't have to modify a single meal I ate in France! Not one! In the US and UK, I modify everything to make it fit with the Paleo/Primal lifestyle, so it was so nice to order straight off the menu without having to change a thing. The salads were some of the most beautiful and delicious I'd ever had; the proteins were all perfectly cooked and seasoned; the wine, cheese, and coffee were amazing. Did you know you can order hard-boiled eggs as an appetizer? How awesome-- and Paleo!-- is that?

I went to Paris and didn't have a single baguette or pastry... and no, I'm not crazy. Instead, I enjoyed cheese, beef, fresh vegetables, my family, and a beautiful city-- so who needs a croissant when you have all of that?

Quote of the Day:

"In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport." -Julia Child

Recipe: Chunky Chivey Coffee Chili

Today is the one year anniversary of Paleo at Penn! I can't thank you all enough for reading my blog and being so supportive-- this last year of blogging has been a total blast!

It seems like almost every Paleo/Primal site/blog out there has a chili recipe. Since coming to Edinburgh, I've been eating a lot of chili because A) It's awesome, and B) I can make a huge thing of it and eat it for a few days. I've made quite a few variations of it thus far, but I think I've found the perfect recipe, which combines two of my favorite things: beef and coffee. (That might sound like an odd combination, but coffee-rubbed steaks are quite popular, so I figured I'd try coffee chili... and I'm glad I did.) So here's my Chunky Chivey Coffee Chili!

Ingredients (serves about 4):

-900 g (approx. 2 lbs) minced/ground beef

-1 can tomato sauce/paste

-1 onion, chopped

-1 tomato, chopped

-6 tsp. chives, chopped

-3 tsp. chili powder

-3 tsp. paprika

-3 tsp. garlic powder (or chopped garlic)

-3 tsp. basil

-3 tsp. oregano

-4 tbsp. ground/instant coffee (I love the flavor coffee gives to this dish, but you don't have to put this much in if you want a more subtle coffee taste.)

1. Cook beef in a pot on the stove until no longer pink. Drain the fat.

2. On low heat, mix in vegetables, spices, and coffee. Cover and let simmer for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!

Quote of the Day:

"Among the numerous luxuries of the table... coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions... is never followed by sadness, languor or debility." -Ben Franklin