The Omnivore's Bonanza

"I've really been reading a lot lately on nutrition," said a friend to me at the pool, as she pulled a Terra chip out of the bag and popped it in her mouth, "and I'm getting serious about getting rid of the junk food. Have you read Wheat Belly?"

I have not read Wheat Belly--only read about it, and its claims that modern American GMO wheat is the root of all evils. (Having not read the book, I wouldn't swear to that thesis in a court of law!)

Whether or not you believe that--I don't happen to, but I've dutifully put the book on hold at the library--I'm finding plenty to eat, wheat and otherwise, at this season's Bellevue Farmers Market. And speaking of the Market, Opening Day for the Saturday Market is here!

Ye Olde Compass Plaza

You remember Compass Plaza from last year, right? Across from CPK, and right in front of Rock Bottom Brewery? Barnes & Noble (of the blue check mark) has graciously offered to supply us with Market parking again, so think about adding a book to your picnic basket this weekend. Saturday Opening Day means, starting this week, we have two places to pick up all that wonderful food.

Which brings me back to my original point. If you have managed to freak yourself out about GMO wheat, the Market can help you with that. I mentioned our new vendor Wildflour last week:

Owner and baker Dr. Rebecca Johnson has traveled her own road of gluten-intolerance and suffering through awful-tasting, wheat-free alternative foods, with delicious results for us. Wildflour offers just about every kind of bready product, from loaves to muffins to cookies to scones, all gluten-free, mostly dairy-free, and baked in a peanut-free environment. Johnson also avoids bean, corn, and soy flours, for those of us who do freak out about GMO soy (hand raised).

Buy. Unwrap. Stuff in mouth.

In place of baked products, it seems Wheat Belly recommends Atkins-y diets of the carbless food groups, and the Market can help with that, too.

Cheese, glorious cheese and meat!

Eggs galore

Wild-caught salmon

And of course, vegetables a-plenty

Two or three more weeks of asparagus, folks! We had some on the grill the other day, brushed with olive oil. Perfection.

And the first strawberries of the season? They're called "Honeyeye." As in, Honey-I-am-never-eating-those-giant-tasteless-red-golfballs-called-California-strawberries-again. Even though we all know the berries get sweeter, the farther we go into summer-variety territory, these Honeyeyes from Hayton Farms were good enough to rinse and serve plain at a book launch party, as I did:

One last note--my ten-year-old Sherpa and I had to grab a quick dinner before said book launch party last week, so we took a friend's recommendation and hit up the Contigo food truck.

We both went for the "bowls," she for the carnitas (pork), and I for the beef. My mouth waters, even typing about it almost a week later. I highly recommend. If we hadn't been planning to put it aside for later, we would have tried the tacos. Thankfully, there are many more weeks to come, in which we hope to try every prepared food at the Market at least once!

See you this week, Marketgoers, for more food and fun in the sun.