Motivational characteristics of the Qi thirsty man..

Amongst the Chinese, Qi is considered to be the "lifebreath" that animates living beings. As we all fall apart, oxidize, perpetually and magically build our arsenal of fee radicals and dysfunctional bodily utillity, those of us that are inclined or willing to be aware then voluntarily educate ourselves about what can be done to slow this inevitable process of deterioration either fight the hard battle or give it up. I suppose im somewhere in the middle, I don’t work out all the time, I eat what I want until the day comes that im not confident in my kelly green speedo yet, when given the opportunity, I revel in the concept and physical pleasures found in whole foods and gastronomic creations that spawned from clear thinking, organic ingredients and thoughtful creative streams.

These days, the awareness of freshness has of course risen beyond the generic meaning of the word and now, unlike 15 years ago has relevance to seafood as it does micro greens, or fruit. Say… “when was this fish in the water ?...) now with top seafood purveyors, in the hospitality biz, you can actually see a caught stamp on the side of the package…its not a red lobster commercial with slow motion montage after montage with glistening droplets of butter atop a grilled shrimp skewer and a slow and low voiceover that touts some connectivity to a guy that looks like the guy from the Gordons fish stick campaign …it’s a new breed of freshness with levels or freshness that’s often connected to an origin or the hunter, farmer, or gatherer him/herself. WholeFoods, Farmers markets, community gardens all across the country are booming and im thrilled.

So, consider the idea of all things edible in their raw(est) and truly freshest form. This is when the edible isn’t cooked, manipulated in any way. Think Japan or the rural north coast of Crete and you’ll get the picture. Foods that are both at the highest level of that “freshness” scale and that are not tweaked by an overly zealous chef or cook are just really special. There is something totally intangible about the experience and subsequent feeling I get from eating raw fish, oysters, and just picked vegetables and fruits. Like an internal hummmmmm that just makes sense. No need to quench with water, no bloating, no weird GI trac processing issues etc… So what is that “hummmmmm”? If you ask me,..id say it’s that life force the easterners call “qi” and here is what ive discovered. The longer that edible is from its last breath or from its branch or vine or soil, the more this qi dispels. I’m not saying that the old freshness scale doesn’t have value im saying that the new scale should, like that box of fish, be considered fresh as if it were measured like a stopwatch measures a stride at a 100m Olympic sprint. Does this make sense? Ok so ,…you might argue that a raspberry picked at 4 am then brought to youre local farmers market by 7 and in your mouth by 9 couldn’t possible taste any better than one picked and eaten within minutes at the farm but Im asking you to think in terms of minutes not hours. Sure they both taste great but if you jump on this wagon,..one clearly has more qi than the other. Can you taste it?...yeah, sometimes but not always. Is it all about taste? Mostly but not always. Sometimes its about that “hummmmm” which in my experience can only be had when your knee deep in a 39 degree Alaskan river gnashing into the side of a king salmon while it frantically flips to and fro, at the local oyster bar sucking down a dozen Totten inlet , at your favourite sushi den, or like me on my hands and knees in the tall grass along side a 100 foot row or red raspberries in southern Indiana carefully using my brow and head to push my way through the briar enough to get a clearing so my tongue and lips can pull the fruit from its bud base. This is my recent fresh discovery and remains one of the most prominent motivational characteristics of this Qi thirsty man..