Gazpacho

Gazpacho Boy Earns His Moniker

By John Taylor; 2 August, 2005

This week is hectic. I have to drive Silvie in the morning to and at 4
PM back home from her day camp at a horse farm, which cuts a swath
through my writing time. The first day, Monday, Marie, Thomas and I
had to drive to Hamilton help my Aunt Marguerite in her move from an
apartment to a retirement home. Then yesterday during my writing time
I finished off a surprisingly time consuming operation with my bike,
replacing the straight set of mountain bike handlebars with a curved
beach bike set. But at least I can ride my bike again now, and get my
favorite exercise going again.

Last week I crossed over a thousand mental barriers and made up a
batch of gazpacho soup. Last year I wrote about this soup, which a
researcher used to find out what would happen if somebody actually
followed the advice of dieticians to have 10 to 12 portions of veggies
each day. In order to work it into anybody and everybody's lifestyle,
no matter how busy, this researcher saw to it that they took a one
glass of this cold soup each day. The results were predictable, after
two weeks of a glass of gazpacho every day, much better blood
pressure, cholesterol, etc. Best of all, using a blender, this soup is
very quick and easy to make. I was so enthralled by this idea that I
wrote an essay called "Gazpacho Guy," but for some reason could not
get myself to follow Bill Sears' advice and get a "round toit."
Meanwhile, this summer I have virtually eliminated migraine attacks
simply by never letting myself get even slightly dehydrated. But I am
still annoyingly listless and tired all the time.

So I thought, I must start this two week gazpacho plan, no matter
what. It is simple, easy, what more could I want? I had some kind of a
mental block and never actually did it. Instead, I collected gazpacho
recipes. I now have a pile of them, all stuck into a "light and
healthy recipes" book. Marie found one that had fallen out onto the
ground and stuck it on the fridge; that is what saved me. I could not
file this one away, and every time I entered the kitchen, there it
was. But still, for a long time nothing was enough.

Then I was surfing the net using the keywords "Baha'i" and
"powerpoint" and I stumbled over this powerpoint presentation by a
doctor who back in 2000 presented to the Baha'i Medical Association a
talk about the Baha'i concept of a healthy diet. He combines the
latest findings about diet and compares them to citations from the
Master writings. There is something compelling about seeing a quote
isolated, as in such a presentation. Over and over the Master was, as
it were, shouting at me: if something tastes good, it has got to be
good for you. If a food tastes bad, how can it be good for you? That
got me wondering, how does this gazpacho actually taste? If it is so
good for you, you would think that it would taste particularly good,
according to what `Abdu'l-Baha is reported as telling us.

My curiosity tweaked, I finally buckled down and plunked the
ingredients in the blender, chilled the unappetizing looking mix in
the fridge for an hour or so. No wonder so many of these recipes
insist on surrounding it with garnishes like croutons or parsley! When
the mix was finally cold, I summoned up my courage and actually,
finally, courageously, tasted the storied gazpacho soup. It was like a
religious experience. It was unbelievably tasty. I could not believe
anything could taste that good. When I heard first what the master
said about good food tasting good, I thought of donuts, the perfect
mix of fat and sugar, very tasty to one and all, but a nutritionist's
nightmare. This taste, though, was more than good, it was naturally
good. I will have to try it, taste a bite of donut, artificially good
taste, and a mouthful of gazpacho, naturally good tasting.

Okay, I was primed for this taste, psychologically. But hey, I
thought, why should it not be a religious experience? I have prayed
for something to cure my chronic health problems for so many years
that I must be completely spiritually primed as well for something,
anything that might help. Suffice to say, gazpacho tastes good enough.
I resolved to take a glass of this stuff with every meal for two
weeks, then I will back it off to once a day, forever. I need it,
believe me, in this summer heat.

--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com