Now that the dust has settled, or perhaps the confetti of shredded paper, let’s have another look at the idea of Paleo formula for babies.  Forget the details of the ‘recipe’, consider the logic and the Paleo philosophy.

The Paleo plan is based on the eating patterns of our primal ancestors and a belief in the wise ways of Mother Nature and evolution.  So there would be only one way to feed babies – breast-feeding.  Way back, if there was no breast milk babies died; they died of infections for which their mother’s milk would have provided protection and they died because of the lack of adequate substitutes for breast milk.  The alternative, where a mother died or could not feed her baby, was breast-feeding by a female relative (or sometimes milk directly from a herd animal).  This was possible where women had larger families and lived in close communities – there was generally someone close by who could breast-feed.  This was the case, with an extra option of a paid wet nurse, until around the last 100 years.

THE CHOICE – BREAST MILK OR COMMERCIAL FORMULA

Cave–women mothers would not have had the wherewithal or knowledge to prepare nutritionally adequate feeds for a baby’s vital needs. The Paleo view that adults are not intended to use milk as a food does not apply to babies; it is the food for babies that evolution has perfected.  Breast milk’s complexity is still beyond our full understanding, or ability to replicate, but commercial formula offers a safe alternative.  Formula can be prepared based on ingredients other than another animal’s milk, but all formula relies on a wealth of science and technology to do a reasonable job.  Without that knowledge the Paleo baby without breastmilk would have little hope of survival, let alone growing up without problems.

Funny how ideas come together from different directions; this time fuelled by my recent reading of books about food. In Fuchsia Dunlop’s book ‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper’ she talks about the role of fermented foods in Chinese cuisine, from soy and especially the smelly fish variety.

These highly flavoured ingredients are sources of glutamate, related to MSG, and traditionally are said to increase health and improve appetite. Their strong savoury flavours are examples of umami, the fifth taste – along with salt, sour, bitter and sweet. In John Baxter’s ‘The Perfect Meal’ he mentions garum, another source of glutamate, highly valued in Greek and Roman cuisine; prepared from fermented fish it was distilled into an elixir which could ‘cure dysentery, remove freckles and heal dog bites’. Today’s relatives of garum include Worcester Sauce, Vegemite and Vietnamese Nuoc Mam. And now the missing link.

The link between glutamate and breast milk

With our ‘so-scary and over-reported it’s almost boring’ awareness of childhood obesity there is lots of scientific interest in the reasons that breastfeeding lessens the risk of later obesity. There are many ideas and they probably all play a part, but recently there’s a new idea in the mix. Breastmilk is very high in free amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and one of these is glutamate, especially high compared to the levels in cows milk and formula. Early evidence suggests that the high levels of glutamate may be important in teaching babies about appetite regulation, and setting up important pathways for the future. This info may have been added quietly to the ‘science side’ of my brain if I had not recently read those two books, but now I am tuned in to watch for updates.

A ‘personal food policy’ could include:

• the balance between plant-based and the resource-intensive animal-based foods
• ‘food miles’ (food-kilometres never sounds right to me)
• provenance of foods and seasonality – looking at Farmers’ Markets and local options
• targeting food wastage (below the horrifying 40% average for retail food purchases).

More changes on the way for me.

Good starting points for local buying:

http://www.organicfooddirectory.com.au/general-issues/community-food-systems/community-supported-agriculture.html

http://www.whitehat.com.au Guide to markets in most states.

http://www.sze.hu/fk/kornyezet/Cikkek14/Luxus-consumption-Wasting-food-resources-through-overeating_2006_Agriculture-and-Human-Values.pdf

quick, easy and good for the conscience. Without scratching for further ideas I came up with five basics – use whatever vegetables and extras you have at the time. All done in under 15 minutes.

Five quick meals for toddlers:

• Scrambled egg with baby spinach. Roughly shred washed spinach and stir through toward the end of cooking. If you are cooking the egg in the microwave do this when you stir part-waythrough. Serve with Turkish bread. If you any left-over roasted vegetables you’ll have a frittata.
•  

  Mini-pizza. Use pita bread or a halved English muffin. If you’re using a muffin toast it lightly on one side. Smear with prepared tomato pasta sauce, add sliced tomato, grated cheese and afew snips of bacon if you like. Grill, or bake in a hot oven. A few leaves of fresh basil are good if it is at arm’s length.

• Pasta with vegetables. While the pasta cooks (or the left-over reheats) lightly cook some broccoli florets, sliced zucchini, shredded brussel sprout. Stir through the pasta with a spoonful ofprepared tomato-based sauce or passata. Good if sprinkled with cheese and baked. You could add half a very small can of tuna.
• Fried rice – using a tub of purchased pre-cooked rice. Make a skinny omelet in the pan first. Then stir fry a spring onion, some chopped cooked chicken or some bacon, and then the ricewith some frozen peas. When hot toss through a little soy sauce (low salt if you’re fussed about salt). Top with shredded omelet.
• Jacket potato – a toddler-size potato cooks in a few minutes in the micro-wave (make sure you cut a cross in the top first to avoid a big clean-up). Open up the cross and top withbaked beans, or other drained and rinsed beans and some passata.

There was a repeat of the popular chicken ‘nuggets’ from Emily Dupuche’s Food babies love, then mini- frittata, roasted pumpkin with a scatter of home-grown thyme, lamb kofta in tomato sauce, Nigella’s lamb keema (from Feast), and a mix of grated carrot and zucchini. Packed in daily amounts, some for the next few days and some for the freezer, there was enough to cover the full two weeks, with some family meals and left-overs. All that will be needed is some additional vegetables, maybe some pasta or rice. Very satisfying, great fun, and some for me for that night as well.

An exciting part of the venture was the realisation that my 35-year old Breville food processor needs replacing. Still going, but too small and very worn looking. Not one to throw items away while they are still doing the job I am looking forward now to the choice of the Cuisinart, the Magimix, the Kitchen-Aid.