Guayaba Coco con Col Rizada Energy Balls

Jump to the recipe for Guayaba Coco con Col Rizada Energy Balls…

There are many things I observed during my trip to the United Kingdom and I want to share one with you today. This is a picture of a fruit stand in London (Southwark to be more specific) that we passed several times walking from our hostel to the Tube.

They were everywhere. Every one aisle convenience store had a fresh fruit and vegetable section. Even the tiny newspaper stand offered bananas! Looking at the prices, a small container of grapes was £1, for example (about $1.33). Not unreasonable.

It made me wonder about the diversity in this part of London (I didn’t visit the whole city so I don’t know if it is common throughout) and the commitment of the people living there to eating more than processed foods. I can not walk into the two 7 Elevens in my neighborhood and expect to see more than maybe one small basket of fresh food. In downtown Seattle, the places I see fresh produce are in Pike Place and the International District. What is it about this London borough (and maybe others) that supports access to fresh food?

Looking it up when I got home, Southwark has the highest population of social housing in London and is ethnically 63% white, 16% black African and 8% black Caribbean. In a low SES and culturally diverse urban setting I expected to see what I saw: all the uniformed children walking to school were black, pound stores (UK dollar stores), a buzzing barbershop at 9pm on a Tuesday night, standing room only at the Lebanese shwarma restaurant, public transportation. It surprised me to see the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables in an urban setting, and not just at vendors who sell food.

In my work with low income families in the national Head Start program, there are many things I have learned about poverty and nutrition over the years. I was idealistic in the beginning, believing that if only people knew about eating better then somehow it would solve all their health problems, namely obesity. However, the “problem” of obesity is that it is more a symptom than the end result and a host of factors are involved such as adverse childhood experiences and lack of resources.

One such factor you might have heard of is a “food desert”. It is defined as an area, especially one with low-income residents, that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. It is often seen as the reason why populations with limited resources do not eat well, they have no access to healthy foods. And to make things worse, this factor targets minorities (namely blacks) who live in these areas disproportionately.

However, there are studies that show that even when stores in these urban (and sometimes rural) areas were stocked with fresh food options, the food went unsold. People simply did not purchase what was available and so stores then stopped offering it. The basic rules of economics: supply and demand.

Seeing the abundance of fresh produce in this borough of London had me wondering about the culture and habits of its population. It was being supplied, so there must be a demand. Was it a conscious choice or simply part of the culture?

Food for thought...

#guavapaste #almonds #shreddedcoconut #dehydratedkale

I told you it was going to be all about the snacks this summer…

When my husband and I moved into together after getting married, it meant combining households. I talked about it a bit in my I Love You To The Mountains And Back post. When putting pantry items away in the cupboard it was hilarious to see we each had a package of guava paste.

I already knew he loved the taste of guava but how did we both end up with such an obscure food item? He wasn’t sure when he had picked his up and I had found mine the same place I get my date paste. Not with a recipe in mind but just because it looked interesting. And tasty.

Did you know I speak Spanish? ¿Sabes que me hablo Español? It’s quite handy…

Good to know it’s gluten free. Turns out this concentrated fruit loaded with vitamin C and A works just as well in making energy balls as the date paste but with a more tropical flavor. You should be able to find it at your local Asian or other ethnic market, but if not, I’m sure good old Amazon sells it, too.

To balance out the “energy” AKA fruit sugar in this recipe, I threw in some dehydrated kale for good measure. You don’t have to tell anyone it is hiding in there! Guayaba Coco con Col Rizada energy balls would be just as good with dehydrated spinach or another veggie, don’t be afraid to experiment.

I also like to use the almond slivers rather than whole almonds, I find they break down easier. I suppose you could use almond meal if you want to pay the higher cost to have someone else process your almonds.

Toss all the ingredients in the food processor and mix until well blended. Then form into balls with your hands.

These were amazing on my summer trips (and even in the kitchen at home), here I am enjoying it in the basin below Grey Wolf Pass on my Olympics backpacking loop with Elizabeth at the end of July. Seems so long ago already…