The intro

I am a self-professed foodie. I love to eat and can eat like nobody's business. Once, during a cruise with a few of my high school friends and their families, the guys started an eating contest. I came in at 2nd place with 16 1/2 lobster tails. They were just the tails, not an entire lobster, but that's still a shitload of food. I obviously don't make a habit of eating like that on a regular basis. It's neither healthy nor enjoyable to overeat, but it just goes to show you how much I love to eat, to the point that I have definitely overindulged. I've also never been a picky eater, and I will try just about anything. I would love to travel around the world and try different ethnic foods.

And I love to cook and bake. I document my cooking/baking experiences - which recipes worked out and which didn't, what mistakes I might have made, what variations or improvements I plan to make the next time around I make the dish again, etc.

I don't know where this obsession with food comes from. All I know is that I love food. All kinds of food. Which is why I decided to start this blog - so that I could share my passion and love for food with others. After all, to me, food is about sharing. Sure, I can enjoy food alone, but to what extent would I be able to enjoy it without anyone to share the experience of eating with, or without anyone to cook for? Cooking is one of the ways I show my love.

But there's another reason why I made the decision to start this blog.

The typical American diet (high in sugar, high in unhealthy fats and carbs, and not enough fresh fruits, vegetables or whole grains) is one of the main factors contributing to why 2/3rds of Americans are now overweight and one third obese, with a whole host of other health problems aside from weight problems. And that's on top of the fact that the majority of American foods found in supermarkets and restaurants now contain pesticides, preservatives, additives, antibiotics, growth hormones, or are in some way, chemically processed (like hydrogenated vegetable oils, margarine, and other foods containing trans fats, etc). In fact, many of the refined sugars are carcinogenic! Obesity already puts people at a higher risk for developing cancer later in life, but the way our foods have been processed put people at an even greater risk; and along with obesity, cancer has also reached epidemic proportions in America. The American Cancer Society estimates that half the men and one-third of the women in the United States will develop cancer in their lifetimes.

However, the majority of cases of cancer, obesity, and other health problems are absolutely preventable. John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods Market, stated in a WSJ article a few months ago: "Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices."

So what's stopping us from making these choices that we know are good for us? Well, I think part of the reason is that people often have this misconception that healthy food tastes like shit. And that mostly only unhealthy food tastes delicious. People often just can't picture themselves eating healthy food and actually enjoying it. Perhaps people are afraid that they won't be able to enjoy their favorite foods that they grew up eating, or that they might have to make some significant changes in their dietary habits and that they won't have the discipline and self-control to stick to those changes - or maybe they don't know where to even begin. I don't want to be judgmental or preachy though, because after all, I used to be one of those people myself. But fear not! It took me some time to make dietary changes and some time to educate myself and learn about nutrition, but once I realized that healthy food can be delicious, even more delicious than the artificial foods I was used to, it wasn't difficult to change my dietary habits. Trust me, it's a far better motivator than fear of cancer, heart stroke, etc - because when you use fear as a motivator, then basically sometimes fear that something will taste awful or fear of trying something new takes over all the other fears.

I think another factor that is preventing people from making healthy dietary changes is that there's a lot of misinformation out there about what exactly is healthy for you and what isn't, which complicates the problem even further because people don't know what to believe about healthy food, when there's so much conflicting information around. In fact, the term "healthy" has been so utterly abused and misused that it's almost lost meaning. For example, I was recently browsing through the food blog of a cook from the South who said she "omitted the use of lard in exchange for vegetable shortening, vegetable oils or olive oil" because "this way of cooking.. is more nutritious." Ummm.. just because something has the word "vegetable" in it doesn't make it healthy. Vegetable shortening and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are possibly less healthy than lard is, because at least lard doesn't contain trans fats, which are cancer-causing! Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil might as well as be called "cancer oil". Of course, obesity also increases the risk of cancer, so which is the lesser of the two evils when it comes to the probability of getting cancer? I don't know, but either way, I don't plan to find out from personal experience! (Side note: yes, olive oil is very healthy, but that's only 1 out of 3)

Anyway, now that I eat mostly healthy and organic foods, I am here to say that in my experience, it is absolutely not true that healthy food tastes like shit! (And yes, taste is extremely important to me.) In fact, organic food tastes better overall than non-organic food. Organic beef, especially grass-feed beef, tastes way better than non-organic beef. Organic free-range chicken is juicier, more tender, and tastier too. Try a fresh piece of wild Alaskan salmon and you'll never want to go back to farm raised salmon again. And organic steel cut oats are by far the best oatmeal I've ever had. The supermarket tomato doesn't hold a candle to the heirloom tomatoes or other tomatoes found at farmer's markets, like Shushan Farms' hydroponic tomatoes at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC in terms of flavor and nutritional value. I could give dozens more examples but you get the point.

As far as all those unhealthy, refined white breads people usually eat that have been all but pretty much stripped of any nutritional value, I've personally found quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat, rye, and other healthy whole grains to be very tasty alternatives. I'm not saying that would be the case for everyone, but only that if people opened their minds to the idea that many healthy foods are tasty, they may be very pleasantly surprised, just as I was! Quinoa is one example of this because it's both incredibly healthy for you (not only does it contain all 9 essential amino acids, making it an unusually complete source of protein, it is also high in fiber, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, and riboflavin/vitamin B2 as well as being gluten free) and has great flavor with a light, fluffy texture that I love. Yet, most people have never even heard of it, let alone tried it, but if they did, I'm sure many of them would like it. As far as refined sugar goes, there are many alternate sweeteners out there on the market now that are far healthier for you than refined sugar and taste just as good: agave nectar, honey, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, etc... just to name a few. And any hydrogenated vegetable oil pales in comparison to the flavor of a high-quality extra virgin olive oil.

Point is - there are TONS of foods out there that are both nutritious AND delicious)! And that's what this blog will be focused on - I hope to open people's minds to some of the other delicious alternatives to the foods that they currently eat, so that they can become healthier, while at the same time still be able to enjoy eating food. These recipes won't necessarily be fat free and may not be the absolute healthiest possible options out there, but at least, they will be healthier than what most people normally eat. All of my recipes will be made from as many local, seasonal, organic, or natural ingredients as possible.

There will also be many dairy-free recipes for those of us whose genetic makeup prevents them tolerating these products well. I, along with many of my friends, am to some extent, lactose intolerant. In fact, the majority of the world's population is. I also ran into severe health problems partly due to a high intake of sugar and had to temporarily cut all sources of sugar out of my diet, except for fresh fruit.

[Note: I chose the name Coconut & Honey because they're both healthy and tasty and some of my favorite foods. I often use coconut oil in my cooking - it's one of the healthiest oils, lends itself well to both cooking and baking, and has a wonderful, unique flavor. Coconut is also a common ingredient in Asian cuisines, and being that I am Chinese, I felt it reflected my heritage; I also like the flavor of many other tropical fruits, such as mango, pineapple, bananas, lychee, and guava. As for honey, it's one of the healthiest natural sugars and a personal favorite of mine. It's also nearly universally liked, and people of many diverse cultures have been cultivating and consuming various types of honey for thousands of years.)