Editorial note: I’ve started experimenting with keto desserts, so next post we will resume recipes. I just thought I needed to give a little more background so y’all weren’t like, What the hell is going on here?! Have all the adults left the premises?!
When Tim and I first started keto, part of what made following a new eating “strategy” kind of fun was the challenge of trying to see if I could make good food without all my traditional methods. Culinary school, I believed, had not taught me anything remotely resembling keto cooking. (There was definitely some angst over the sound of my tuition being flushed down the proverbial drain, but the mad scientist in my brain told myself to put my big girl panties on and just cook.) One of the biggest misconceptions I had (as do most people) about keto is that it is all BUTTER, BACON, HEAVY CREAM, and MEAT – ALL THE TIME. Yes, all of those things are “allowed” in the keto way of eating, but, they are not the foundation. And trust me, even if they were, I dare you to try to live off that stuff for more than a couple of weeks. I would bet my front teeth you would be found surreptitiously licking the broccoli florets at Whole Foods by day 15.
When I really started diving deep into keto cooking, I realized it is actually very similar to traditional French cooking. In school, I was taught to cook without any processed food, minimal sugar (unless it was a dessert), seasonal, fresh ingredients, and humanely raised proteins. Starches were taught and present on the plate, but more often a meal was heavy on vegetables with a little bit of meat/fish/chicken. Butter and other forms of dairy were used generously, as were olive oil and salt, but no one thought the entire way of eating was BASED on those ingredients. It was, simply, traditional fresh French cuisine.
This is exactly the same as keto.
In any way of eating, you get to choose if you want to load up on crap, or if you want to focus on fresh, healthy ingredients. Keto is no exception. Yes, people are still debating carbs v. fats (and probably will forever since the science is so wonky), but, good food is good for you – you just decide which types work best for you. Once I got over my prejudice against any sort of “plan” surrounding food, I realized I was really just going to be eating exactly like I was taught in culinary school – like the French, minus the baguettes (and since those made me gain 40 pounds while I was in school over there, I can live without them. But in all honesty, Le Petit Ecolier Cookies might prove to be a little more difficult.).
Maybe keto just needs a new PR person. Vive la cuisine Francaise-Keto!
Mom, ultrarunner, four-time US 24 Hour National Team member, adventure athlete, food writer. Graduate of the Pro Cooking Program at the New School of Cooking, Los Angeles. Will run for food.
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