Photo by Justina Huang
Remember the controversy with Libby’s Zoodles? In case you have no idea what I am referring to, a canned pasta label received buzz when a mother wrote to the company and complained about the palm tree resembling a phallus.
Today, I am introducing a different kind of zoodle. Short for “zucchini noodles,” it is exactly what you think it is. Take zucchini to a mandolin or a spiralizer, let it sit with salt for half an hour and cook it like you would pasta. Zoodles will take on whatever flavors you assign to them, and it makes for easy cleanup. Suitable for gluten and wheat free diets, zoodles have also become a staple for paleo eaters.
However, before you write me off as a paleo plate-shamer, I will write once and for all that I am skeptical of following a diet of a civilization that did not last. In an effort to refrain from dairy, legumes, grains, refined sugars, processed oils, the paleo diet sounds like a host of other fad diets tucked somewhere in my consciousness. However, do I accept that human metabolism can adapt to our society’s version of agriculture? Or did the cavemen get it right? Or is it the people who drink nothing but lemons, cayenne pepper and maple syrup? Or should you juice instead?
I am alarmed by the number of fads that become “successful.” In an age where we were taught from an early age of our individuality (yes you, you snowflake), we are strangely open to cookie-cutter solutions and lifestyle choices. We accept that some people are visual learners, while others learn best by reading or experiencing the phenomenon, but when it comes to dieting, why is there this unspoken consensus that copying Miranda Kerr or Gwyneth Paltrow’s diet will lead to health?
So here, here is the zoodle. Only eat it if it makes you feel good, and if you want to.
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Follow Justina Huang on Twitter: @huanderwoman