Superfoods

The term, superfoods, gets bandied around a lot. You could be forgiven for thinking that superfoods is a fancy pants name for a new fad...the latest celebrity diet. The underwear-on-the-outside name is a bold one, and yet, there are early references to superfoods as a term. However, these references are tenuous and not entirely relevant. I include them because...well, basically they are funny and not everything that is rewarding need necessarily be relevant.

1915 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 24 June 18/2 He had changed the tenor of his mood, And wisely written wine as superfood

1949 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 3 Feb. 14/3 Mr. LeBourdais extolled their [sc. the muffins's] worth as a superfood that contained all the known vitamins and some that had not been discovered.

Not a month goes by where some other food isn't added or removed from the superfood list, but generally speaking, a superfood is one that is rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients. It is an unprocessed, or minimally processed fruit, vegetable, grain and/or protein that is known to improve well-being and longevity.

Why wouldn't you want to embrace the superfoods way?

In the midst of my melodramatic juggling of being Jacqueline by night and shaping young minds à la francaise during the day and, generally, flouncing all over the place tiring myself out, a wise man quite simply said, get into the superfoods. So I did.

Then, quite by chance, while searching for a relatively cheap and accessible event during the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival, the superfoods had their way and embracing them was the only choice. Superfood cocktail and canape match. How could I say no?

Three tasters, three cocktails and three savoury/sweet canape matches. I am hazy on the absolute consensus as to the winner...but as the reporter, I'm going to go with my winner-at-the-end-of-the-day as being the Apple Crisp Martini. Beautifully combined with the duck and then the certain je ne sais quoi of the macaron on its bed of persian fairy floss. There was also something fairly marvelous about the combination of the chilli in the cherry tomato and chilli padi martini and the valrhona tart, although not all of our party were won over by the savoury/sweet mixing of this tasting.

So with a multitude of superfoods coursing through our veins, we went off into the Melbourne night, happy in the knowledge that we had consumed many of  'all the known vitamins and some that had not been discovered', assured of longevity and alive with hope and an innate sense of well-being.

APPLE CRISP MARTINI

Vodka, green apples, cinnamon, mint & lemon

Served with: 

Crispy duck salad with baby herbs, fried shallots and orange caramel

Apple pie & cinnamon custard macaron

 
CHERRY TOMATO & CHILLI PADI MARTINI

Chili padi infused vodka, cherry tomatoes, lemon & Angostura bitters

PINEAPPLE & GINGER MOJITO

Bacardi Superior Rum, pineapple, ginger, mint & lime juice

Served with:

Blue swimmer crab burger with lime, ginger & pineapple relish

Yogurt & coconut panna cotta with gingerbread & caramelized pineapples