NOT TOO EARLY TO START...

discovering new foods. Tonight, we tried a recipe from the January 2011 issue of Bon Appetit for Beet & Fennel Soup with Kefir. The soup looks gorgeous, tastes delicious, and three reasonable ladles' full are very satisfying. My only quibble with something like this is the full quart of unflavored kefir you have to buy for the 1 cup the recipe calls for. But with its nutritional benefits (2 probiotic strains; 11 grams of protein; 10% RDA vitamin A; 25% RDA vitamin D; 30% RDA calcium), I'll try it in recipes that call for yogurt or light cream. It certainly gives the dish a nice tang. I'd never encountered this yogurt-type drink, originally from the Caucasus in Russia where people routinely live to be 100, and in this recipe, I'm certainly glad I did. Pronounced "keh-feer," it's a health food that, at least for me, doesn't have the hippie, fruity-nutty connotations that lemongrass and carrot juice and other health drinks do.

A Year of Culinary Adventure

Many people's New Year's resolution is to eat healthier. Mine? It's to eat and drink- more creatively. Why eat brown rice when you can try quinoa? Why not grab a persimmon to slice into a salad instead of a tomato? Is the wine from the North Fork of Long Island worth drinking? There are probably obvious answers to those questions; 2011 is going to be the year I find out for myself. Once a week, I'm going to find an ingredient I've never eaten before, a recipe I've never made before, or a restaurant I've never eaten at before. Good-bye, same-old same-old. Hello, 52 new foods!