HN Explorer

Ask HN: What do you eat?

51 points by pj ↗ HN
A little lighter subject for this late saturday evening. I have considered starting a site along the lines of "startup recipes."

These recipes would be focused on inexpensive meals that don't take a lot of time away from coding but still provide excellent nutrition and lasting energy.

Of course we all know the "ramen profitable" stage, but Ramen is horrible for the body. Restaurants in general produce not that great of food and the amount of time saved by having them cook it isn't always advantageous considering you have to drive there, stand in line and be away from the computer. Not to mention the expense of convenience makes them not the best choice economically.

I went to college in New Orleans, so I became aware quickly of lots of inexpensive dishes that could be cooked without a lot of distraction: Red beans 'n' Rice, Gumbo, and Jambalaya. I also like to make a nice Pot Roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots in there.

So, my question for you is, what do you eat to keep yourself going while you are coding or working on your startup or just living?

110 comments

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czcar
While toying with the idea of going vegetarian (to see if it would affect energy levels), and just reducing intake of red meat as whole I have started using lentils in a lot of meals, especially in dhal and potato curries.

Seriously easiest and nicest meal possible. http://www.vegsoc.org.nz/recipe_070307.html For a quick dhal recipe. Quick to zap reheat and easy to eat in a mug at the desk.

TriinT
If you live by the coast, you can try spear-fishing and you kill two birds with one stone: you exercise and you eat healthy food ;-)
quellhorst
I live by the coast and right now I can't even catch bait in a cast net. If I had to live off what I caught I would be starving.
TriinT
My comment was tongue-in-cheek. Though spear-fishing is doubtlessly a great way of impressing the ladies, it requires a lot of technique and it can be lethal. If you live by the coast and the waves aren't too mean, something cool is kayak-fishing. I have tried and it's lots of fun. You paddle 500 meters offshore and lie there sunbathing on the kayak until some fish is dumb enough to bite the bait. Quite relaxing.
quellhorst
Interesting, our waves offshore are typically 3-4 feet. Is that doable? I could find some near shore/inshore areas with no waves but then the bugs will bite :)
TriinT
Depends on what kind of kayak you have. My kayak would easily capsize so I would only take it to the ocean when it was flat. On non-flat days, it was also fun as one could try some harmless kayak-surfing and get wiped out countless times. Fun stuff.
Femur
I have a few simple and general rules that I try to follow:

1. I try not to eat anything that does not easily rot. This generally keeps me away from processed food.

2. I try to eat a lot of things that are green (vegetables).

3. I purchase organic when I can.

4. Excellent ingredients minimally handled usually make for the best recipes.

These rules make for healthy and great tasting food. I am a single male and my monthly food budget is around $300. I buy from a weekly farmers market, Whole Foods, and occasionally WalMart.

white
Gosh, I'm spending barely $450-500 for a family of three.
kingkongrevenge
That's probably a bad thing. Good healthy food, like proper cuts of meat and wild fish, is not cheap. Peasant food is cheap. Eat the cheap starch and lousy meat like the peasants and you'll find yourself bloated and waddling around just like them. I drop $150 a week on just me, easy.
Batsu
I think you may want to reconsider your preferences among the food industry. Having a rich taste is one thing, but outright accusing less pricey foods as being lower quality is not exactly accurate. I can't imagine spending $150 a week on myself without buying * incredibly * fine cuts of meat on a daily basis.
pj
I eat pretty good food on < $10/day.
jgranby
Absolutely. Inexpensive cuts of meat are by no means 'worse' than expensive cuts. Certain cuts are always going to be expensive, such as fillet of beef, rack of lamb, but more under-appreciated (and cheaper) cuts can be just as good.

As for examples, pork belly is still very cheap, even since it came into fashion a few years ago, and is much more flavoursome than other cuts. Chicken legs are much cheaper than chicken breast, despite the former having more flavour. Rump steak is more flavoursome than Sirloin. Offal can be delicious, too, and despite its cheapness it is used in the very best restaurants without compunction. You simply have to know what you're looking for.

chris11
You can eat healthy on a whole lot less. My family is pretty health conscious (we are all vegetarians, and my mom is pretty much vegan). And I am sure we have never spent 500 a month for a family of three.

Not everything needs to be organic. Some foods usually have low levels of pesticides. And while Whole Foods has high quality food, it is usually pretty expensive. You can get high quality food for less money elsewhere.

That said, at least your food is probably healthy and high quality.

durin42
There are even some foods that are just unsafe organic. Pork (less interesting to you, being vegetarian, bear with me) is not nearly as safe, there's been a rise in trichinosis cases at least related to organic pork. I know I've seen evidence suggesting organic celery is worth avoiding too, but I can't find it now.

In any case, agreed that you don't have to spend an arm and a leg to get healthy food. Expensive often doesn't even indicate better food, just more aggressively marketed at suckers that'll pay more.

kingkongrevenge
> My family is pretty health conscious (we are all vegetarians, and my mom is pretty much vegan)

Vegetarianism is not healthy.

jganetsk
Vegetarianism is not isomorphic to healthfulness, but it is healthy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10627874

There is much more research on the topic.

It has also been shown that the same benefits arise from "flexitarianism", or limited meat consumption.

white
There are many ways how to eat healthy and stay on the low budget at the same time.

One of the first things here is to be smart when you shop. It takes time to find good places, and I'm even commuting 20 miles every two weeks for some grocery shopping, but I can buy high quality food very inexpensively. 20 miles sounds like a great deal, especially, when you'll think about the average total in the receipt (rarely less then $150-200).

And the second thing, organic is a buzz. Buying organic doesn't automatically mean you are buying healthy food. Buying non-organic labeled stuff, doesn't mean you're buying crap.

Whatever, eating habits are eating habits, and I'm not here to change minds. :) I still think that $500/month for a family of three is pretty much enough. However, I can't argue with the fact, that you can spend unlimited amount of dollars on food -- sky is the limit.

gaius
I try not to eat anything that does not easily rot.

Oatmeal and nuts are important exceptions to that rule.

Excellent ingredients minimally handled usually make for the best recipes.

This is the theory behind Italian cooking. The theory behind French cooking is that anything is edible with enough garlic and butter..

kajecounterhack
Yeah, for me, everything is edible enough with black pepper. My dad can eat anything with enough soy sauce, haha.

I have to say, dumplings are cheap and delicious also. Nutritious enough if you make seafood dumplings or vegetable dumplings.

silencio
Oatmeal is so delicious! I made a habit of keeping a container of oatmeal (bought in large bags from costco - no steel cut, but good enough) soaked in soy/cow milk in the refrigerator overnight. Serve cold the next morning with dried or fresh fruit or whatever else you might fancy (yes, it's muesli). For cold mornings, I'll go with hot oatmeal instead and steel cut, otherwise it's too much work to serve steel cut oats cold. It's a really flexible food with (what is to me) an infinite combination when it comes to toppings, and best of all it's cheap and nutritious.
gaius
The traditional way is this: soak in warm water overnight with a little vinegar, then warm it up the next morning slowly, serve with salt and a little butter. Delicious!

For a treat sometimes I have it with maple syrup and vanilla icecream...

randallsquared
"soy/cow milk"

I read that as "soy sauce or cow milk" the first time. Yuck.

stcredzero
Actually, you can use soy sauce and sesame oil to flavor Oatmeal, but then you are going for savory, not cinnamon/sweet. Most people wouldn't like that if you told them what it was, though. Flipping to savory from sweet or vice-versa grosses lots of people out.
likpok
Bean stew (I use black):

Two cans beans one can diced tomatoes one onion other veggies? (bell peppers, etc)

bay leaf, spices, hot salsa (to taste).

Sautee onions/veggies Stew everything until it's the consistency you want (put it all in a pot).

For about $5-7 /pot which feeds about 4, it's pretty cheap.

Also, you can prep it and start everything stewing, and then just let it boil. Furthermore, it keeps really well, so you can just make a large batch and reheat it.

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ajkirwin
I make chili, curries, soups, stews..
witten
Smoothie for breakfast (or any other meal). It's easy to digest and can be full of good nutritious stuff, so you get a nice boost of energy. And you can even drink it while coding.

I currently use: banana, frozen fruit, whey protein powder, greens powder, almond milk, water, and ice. No added sweetener needed. Just requires a blender and about two minutes to assemble ingredients.

One caveat: Depending on what you put into the smoothie, it might not be that inexpensive. But it's a great way to get fruit if you otherwise wouldn't eat any fruit during the day.

furyg3
My morning smoothie is similar:

1 banana, frozen fruit (some form of berry, usually raspberries), 1/2 avacado, lots of soy milk (almond milk works too), couple spoonfuls of thick plain yogurt. I like adding a bit of protein powder, too, because it really makes the smoothie last until lunch.

The avocado sounds a bit weird, I know, but its what makes the smoothie, trust me. I don't use water or ice, unless I'm out of soy milk.

triplefox
Unsalted nuts. They store really well. Walnuts in particular have plenty of calories but if you have too many in a day you'll be overloaded on omega-3, which will make your hands and feet swell painfully as pressure is applied; the blood vessels in them start breaking too readily.

So nuts aren't the bulk of my calories, but they help make everything else taste better.

bravura
I am interested in the bulk cooking phenomenon.

I have only recently started, so I cannot really comment on what recipes are best.

quellhorst
I found cooking in bulk leading to eating in bulk.
menloparkbum
During the week I mostly eat: egg whites, beans, frozen veggies, fresh veggies, almonds and blueberries. Sometimes I make chicken stir-fry. On Saturdays I eat whatever, usually going out, or to a BBQ, or to a friend's house. On Sunday morning I usually go out to brunch and then the rest of the day it's back to the basic stuff listed above. During the winter I often make turkey or lentil Chili. Most of it is pretty cheap except for the almonds and blueberries. However, I'm just feeding myself so it's still not that expensive.

I used to eat anything and everything but I found that too many carbs and cheese made me get fat, and "crash." Most meat makes me feel sluggish. I'd eat more fish if I had more confidence in my ability to prepare it.

edit: I also have a banana for breakfast. very cheap at Trader Joe's.

sobriquet
what's your preference: borrone's or hobees?
menloparkbum
My name is deceptive, I don't actually live in Menlo Park. Brunch is usually at Zazie in Cole Valley.
gambling8nt
The key with preparing fish is that, unlike meat, it doesn't change color when it is done. Instead, you want the fish to flake (this verb will make sense if you try it) when you run a fork along it "across the grain". If you aren't confident the first time, use a recipe to get a general sense of how long it should take, and overcook it slightly, then slowly work your way back (on successive attempts) until you reach a point where you are comfortable with how well done it gets.

Once you are used to how the fish cooks, consider different flavorings, such as orange or pineapple juice (pretty much everybody starts with lemon), and onions (many people add black pepper to fish, I personally can't stand the stuff).

Unless you live close to where fish are caught (not just the coast, but particular parts of the coast for different kinds of fish), the only cheap fish available will come in a can. However, if, unlike the OP, you aren't interested in the cheapest healthy food available you can make a decent fish fillet with a little practice.

davidmathers
the amount of time saved by having them cook it isn't always advantageous considering you have to drive there

Depends on where you live. There are 20 restaurants within 2 blocks of my house. Also, I don't own a car. Everyone's situation is different, but I'm pretty certain it's both cheaper and healthier for me to eat out than cook at home.

I use $1/minute for estimating my time value. The "cost" really comes down to taking a walk vs doing dishes. I like walks better.

Burritos at El Castillito are a personal favorite, even though it's a 4 block walk: http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-castillito-san-francisco-2

pj
I hear ya. When I was in San Francisco, my car battery died all the time because I didn't drive enough. I loved walking.

I went in for a checkup once and my doctor asked me, "Do you exercise?" I said, "Not really." He said, "What do you do?" I said, "I walk to and from work everyday. It's two miles from Russian Hill to Market Street up and down a few hills."

He said, "I think you're doing fine."

gambling8nt
There are three primary aspects of a balanced diet to consider: (1) starches: in my experience, rice is the cheapest per calorie, when purchased in bulk. Other good choices in this category include pasta and barley. (2) vegetables: getting a variety of vegetables is important in one's diet; I typically get frozen, since I can't get to a supermarket often enough to get fresh. Note that vegetables should typically be either green or carrots to qualify; in particular, corn is a starch. (3) protein: your body can't function without consuming several amino acids you don't produce. My typical protein source is cheese, as this is cheaper per serving than meat. Also in this category are beans, soy, and tofu.

A typical meal where I live on the east coast (by which I mean, 80% of my lunches/dinners) consists of: $0.30 to $0.40 of pasta (1/3 to 2/5 of a pound, dry), $1.00 to $1.25 of vegetables (1/2 pound), $0.60 to $0.90 of cheese (2 to 3 servings), and occasionally seasonings.

Add in milk and cereal for breakfasts, plus costs of variations on this theme and occasional extras, and my monthly food budget works out to around $160.

Edited to indicate amounts associated with given costs.

jpcx01
Cheese has very little protein. The primary protein source in milk is Whey, and that's filtered out when making cheese.
hendler
Interesting, didn't know about Whey being filtered out.

But 7 grams in a 30 gram (1 oz) serving isn't too bad, right?

http://www74.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cheese&a=*C.chees...

21 grams of protein compared with 23 grams in chicken http://www74.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cheese+chicken

(edited to include comparison to chicken)

gambling8nt
7 grams a serving is plenty of protein, as you've suggested.

Recommended daily protein intake depends upon a person's height and gender, as well as a few other factors that tend to have small effects. For most adults, the theoretically ideal amount will fall somewhere around 40 to 50g of protein per day, with less for shorter women and more for taller men. Getting less than this can cause severe problems due to amino acid deficiencies (particularly when you always consume the same general protein source and it doesn't contain significant quantities of one or more of the amino acids you don't produce on your own), as well as muscular atrophy (exacerbated rather than improved by exercise, as an insufficient protein intake will prevent the microtears in your muscles from healing properly). Getting significantly more than this increases stress on your kidneys (although it has not been shown to solely lead to kidney failure) due to the larger quantities of nitrogen present in protein than other forms of food.

silentbicycle
Though if you ever make your own cheese, paneer, etc., you can cook with the whey. It's good in bread.

I'm not expecting you people looking for quick, healthy food to eat while working on your startup to take the time to make your own cheese, but I love to cook. Paneer doesn't take long, at least: ( http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Paneer-%28Indian-Cheese%29 )

Making your own bread isn't too time-intensive, though. It's just a few short steps over the day, and working dough with your hands after spending hours up in your mind can be a very grounding break.

stcredzero
Everything that follows is true.

A college friend of mine had an interesting take on food.

Breakfast 1: Egg in the Blender with some OJ. It's fast. It's cheap. Plus, you feel slightly nauseous all day and save money and lose weight!

Breakfast 2: Bowl of Grape Nuts. Eat quickly with lots of milk. It sticks to your ribs, it's fast, it's cheap. Plus, the Grape Nuts swell up in your stomach, so you feel all full and bloated so you save money and lose weight!

He also once went bonkers when his girlfriend broke up with him, took lots of LSD and ended up grinding his teeth in the asphalt of the middle of the road in the dead of winter in New England and had to be dragged back in the house by a bunch of guys. His reason: it felt really neat on his teeth! So as far as his advice goes, take it with caveats.

zimbabwe
Is there a downside to feeling nauseous and bloated? Like, any particular health concerns that spring up when that's the strategy?
stcredzero
Well, a nausea-related downside to breakfast #1, is that you run a risk of dying from Salmonella.
steveplace
From all the raw cookie dough I've eaten over the years, I'm convinced that I have built an immunity.
ars
Nah, Salmonella in eggs is actually pretty rare. Plus few people would die from it even if they got it.

And if you are really worried you can get pasteurized raw eggs.

stcredzero
I guess about one person in every county in the US every year to be fairly rare. Pasteurized eggs sound like they would be more expensive. I suspect my friend was buying massive chicken-house raised eggs laid by birds with red glasses taped to their heads and hacked off beaks, pumped up with antibiotics and living in their own filth.
jganetsk
Bacterial food poisoning can lead to various long-term diseases. Look up Reactive Arthritis, and Guillian-Barre syndrome.

I speak from experience. Reactive Arthritis is not fun, and one can be genetically predisposed to it.

But, it is true that Salmonella in eggs is pretty rare. And given the string of recent outbreaks, you're perhaps more likely to get it from something else.

vorador
Actually, I think that spending some time cooking is a good distraction, and breaks are good for productivity.
patio11
My three favorite hacker dishes:

Toasted ham, cheese, and grilled veggie sandwich. Dice up an onion, pepper, garlic, and whatever else you like. Heat a little oil in a fry pan for a few seconds, toss in veggie mix, stir while heating until the onions change color. Take off heat. Cut open the fresh french bread you bought earlier that day, add ham, cheese, and veggie mix, top with a sauce if you like it, heat in toaster oven until either the cheese melts or the bread ends up toasty (your call). Takes less than 15 minutes to make, cheap as sin, tastes great and is fairly healthy for you. (Alternative to sauce: splash some soy sauce on the veggies in their last five seconds in the pan.)

Or, get the cheap cuts of beef that no one in American uses for anything, grill them in the pan with your veggies (beef goes in last after the veggies are done), add a bit of soy sauce and stir, then serve over rice. Goes great with a fruit smoothie because it is VERY dry by itself. Again, 15 minutes or less.

Then there is tofu. Buy a small brick of it, dice, heat with a veggie/beef mixture as described above, serve over rice and garnish with salsa. (I'm told by my family that this recipe is the only way they have ever "tricked" their kids into eating tofu.)

zacharypinter
For a quick snack or breakfast, I like having Applesauce (or apple slices) with fat-free cottage cheese. It's filling and easy to make.
Zarathu
Lebanese food: http://tasteofbeirut.com
silentbicycle
If nothing else, it's really nice to have good olive oil and some za'atar on hand. It's an herb/spice/sesame seed blend that goes remarkably well with most kinds of bread, and you can usually get a big bag for a couple bucks.
vaksel
Monday:

   Breakfast: 8 Egg Whites Scrambled with a breast of chicken + 3 slices of cheese + 3 glasses of Orange Juice + 5 strawberries

   Lunch/Dinner: Protein Bar/Crackers

   Supper: 2 steaks with baby tomatoes + 3 glasses of OJ
Tuesday:

   Breakfast: 2 English Muffins + 2 slices of cheese + 2 Bratwurst sausages + 3 glasses of OJ + 5 strawberries

   Lunch/Dinner: Protein Bar/Crackers

   Supper: 6 pieces of beef tenderloin + coleslaw + 3 glasses of OJ
Wednesday:

   Breakfast: Pita bread with chicken breast/coleslaw/cheese + 3 glasses of OJ + 5 strawberries

   Lunch/Dinner: Protein Bar/Crackers

   Supper: 2 pieces of steak with green peppers + 3 glasses of V8 juice
Thursday:

   Breakfast: 8 egg whites scrambled with spam , 3 slices of cheese + 5 strawberries + 3 glasses of V8 juice

   Lunch/Dinner: Protein Bar/Crackers

   Supper: 2 pieces of chicken breast with radishes + 3 glasses of V8 juice
Friday:

   Breakfast: 2 English Muffins + 2 slices of cheese + 2 Bratwurst sausages + 3 glasses of V8 juice + 5 strawberries

   Lunch/Dinner: Protein Bar/Crackers

   Supper: 2 steaks with cucumbers + 3 glasses of V8 juice
Saturday:

   Breakfast: Build something out of whatever I have in the fridge(either scrambled eggs or muffins) + water

   Lunch/Dinner: Bar/Crackers

   Supper: Mince meat snacks with water.
Sunday:

   Breakfast: Protein Bar

   Lunch/Dinner: Protein Bar/Crackers

   Supper: 2 pieces of chicken breast with baby tomatoes + 3  glasses of OJ.
And I have an extra protein bar every day after exercise.

Cooking is a breeze, I just bought one of those indoor grills, so all my meat is grilled w/o worrying about it. The only time I use a frying a pan, is when I'm making scrambled eggs.

rokhayakebe
Damn. How big are you?
vaksel
5'11, and my weight varies from 157-160lbs. I exercise every day for 1-1.5 hours(doing that p90x program), so I burn it off right away
xiaoma
Why so much protein?
vaksel
Mostly because that's what the diet for the program has me pegged at for my weight
xiaoma
That much protein is insane! I guess if you're young and your kidneys can take it, more power to you. If you're worried about longevity, though, I'd swap out about 3/4 of that meat with rice.

The longest lived people, the Japanese get over 80% of their calories from carbohydrates, and over half from rice alone. They're also the thinnest of all economically developed people in the world and have low rates of heart disease.

Here in Taiwan, it's similar, but as the restaurant scene has become more Americanized, more and more young people are having those problems. All those steaks take a toll.

gaius
That "protein is bad for your kidneys" meme is a myth, the "research" was all funded by Kellogg's so people would switch from eggs for breakfast. Yes it is true that a high protein diet will exacerbate existing kidney disease, but a healthy adult drinking enough water per day will have no trouble at all with 1-1.5g/lb of bodyweight.
silentbicycle
Interesting. Can you cite that point about Kellogg?
gaius
His book, "The Natural Diet of Man" started it, but his corporation perpetuated it.
xiaoma
From the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2007) 61, 575–581:

"higher intake of carbohydrates was associated with significant reduction of total mortality, whereas higher intake of protein was associated with nonsignificant increase of total mortality (per decile, mortality ratios 0.94 with 95% CI 0.89 –0.99, and 1.02 with 95% CI 0.98 –1.07 respectively). Even more predictive of higher mortality were high values of the additive low carbohydrate–high protein score (per 5 units, mortality ratio 1.22 with 95% CI 1.09 –to 1.36). Positive associations of this score were noted with respect to both cardiovascular and cancer mortality.

Conclusion:

Prolonged consumption of diets low in carbohydrates and high in protein is associated with an increase in total mortality."

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v61/n5/abs/1602557a.html

ojbyrne
I love my wok.
megaduck
Woks are fantastic! It's amazing the variety of tasty food that can be cooked with just a wok and a long-handled ladle. Stir-fry, braise, boil, whatever you like. Fast and easy.

A few words of warning, though: First, proper stir-fry technique requires a pretty intense heat source (think smelting furnace and you're not far off). Most American stoves won't do it unless you use a wok ring. Even then, it's hard. If you're using an electric range, um... good luck. I've heard that people have good luck with the self-contained electric wok kits, but YMMV.

Oh, and DO NOT BUY NONSTICK. Teflon starts to break down at the temperatures produced in wok cooking. Highly carcinogenic. :(

Other than that, enjoy! A good stir-fried meal only takes minutes to prepare and can be amazingly delicious. Cleanup is easy too, since you've only got one pot to deal with.

pj
Years ago, my grandmother got one of those original hand hammered woks from china off an infomercial. It was shiny as a new nickel when she got it, but she never used it so she gave it to me.

Now it's black as night. I love it.

ojbyrne
My main problem is smoke alarms. Thankfully I live in a small apartment with good ventilation/fans and a big patio door I can open. Heat, steam, etc don't do well with modern condos. And that's a problem.
kingkongrevenge
It's pretty easy to eat healthily and fairly cheaply at a lot of by the pound supermarket buffets. It's faster than cooking, but not cheaper, though not so expensive.

Eating healthily is very simple: every meal should be a piece of meat/fish/egg, with varied vegetables and some whole fruit. Add nuts and cheese to taste. The most important aspect to eating well is simply to avoid starch and sugar: no potatoes, corn, baked goods, cereal, rice, or beans. Avoid soybean oil and other synthetic "vegetable" oils. You too can be ripped like me by following these simple rules. It's easy.

c00p3r
Fresh. Organic. Veg. Seasonal. Less.

1. Everything must be fresh, especially fish, vegetables and fruits. Don't buy many, buy enough for one meal. Each time. Tomorrow it will be fresh delivery on market.

2. Do not overboil. There are two main rules in cooking - 'less heat' (less flame under your bowl and inside your head =) and 'just enough' (long boiling spoils everything - taste and goodness)

3. DRY - Do not repeat yourself. Do not try to eat the same dishes day after day. You will spoil all your effort. Even a pure caviar diet will finish you in no time.

4. Eat local and seasonal fish and vegetables.

5. Learn from the poor. I learned from Nepali and Tibetan people in Hymalayas. They have very smart aproach to cooking.

hs
what approach?

don't you get lower pressure at high altitude, thus cooking takes longer ... or do i get it backward?

c00p3r
It is about pragmatic choices - what to cook and how to cook. The main idea - you can easily spoil usefulness of your dishes (in terms of gains to your health). Freshness is the key because of vitamins. Less boiling means keeping them and other useful ingredients from destruction. Combination of fresh, raw and cooked organic foods keeps them healthy in very hard nature conditions. Seasonal food means to eat what grows on the next hill instead of buying something from distant lands. And the last part is about keeping nothing for tomorrow - why to eat old and non fresh when you can make it from new fresh goods again.
asmdsr
This is what got me through my startup. Don't skimp on step 3.

2 Cans of Whole Tomatoes 1 Can Lentils (or 1/2 cup dry lentils) 1 Large Onion (peeled) 5 Cloves Garlic (peeled 1 Cup Water Salt + Pepper Olive Oil Parmesan

1. Combine in a Large Pot: Tomatoes, Lentils, Whole Onion, Whole Garlic Cloves, Water. 2. Let simmer for about 45 min. When the middle of the Onion “pops” out or is very soft, the soup is ready. 3. Serve in Bowls, then… Drizzle Olive Oil and Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese on each serving. 4. Enjoy!

Tichy
I think you might be right about the restaurants. While some of them serve food that tastes well, I doubt that many of them use the best ingredients. These days it is hard to tell, for example I think most take away restaurants serve microwaved food that was prepared in some factory.

Maybe we could set up some cooking circles for hackers, that is, take turns to cook. Everybody would be responsible for one day in the week. Might work in the bigger cities? I am in Berlin, if anybody is interested.