This is how we get down.

Tonight's Dinner:

• kale
• brown rice
• cauliflower
• salad
• fish (caught yesterday by our dinner guests)

Photo taken by my phone (apologies for the bad quality).

My dad has recently gotten married with my step mother- Allyson. Personally, I've seen the changes in the foods that we used to eat and the food that we eat today. As a result of their relationship, my father has lost some weight, and we've all begun to eat a lot healthier. One example is the rice that we eat. My family used to mostly eat white or yellow rice. Delicious as it is, it was difficult for me to adjust to only eating brown rice, which is what we do now. In addition, we generally only buy organic fruits and vegetables and eat much less meat than ever before(my father's the only meat eater now). We also hardly ever have junk food in our cabinets like we used to.

My father's parents are Caribbean immigrants, so he did not grow up eating typical American food.  For example, while other kids were eating Wonder bread, his mother would only buy whole wheat. She never took them to places like Mcdonald's or Burger King, never bought soda and always insisted that they had vegetables with every meal. This is probably the reason why my father likes to cook and eat at home, because he grew up eating that way.

My mother was born in Lima, Peru and was raised eating the rich variety of foods that are made in that South American nation. Her grandmother raised chickens and she grew up eating food produced on there farm. When we were small, my mother insisted that we only eat food that we made rather than baby food purchased in the store. This is probably the reason why I grew up enjoying vegetables- since my mother forced me to eat them from the time my teeth came in. Although my mother believed in eating natural foods, she also enjoyed spicy foods from Peru.

Given that eating healthy has been passed down throughout my family, I don't find it difficult to understand why I eat the way I do. I've become vegetarian this past summer due to learning about the way food and especially meat is processed. It's all about food justice, baby.