The empty canvass awaiting creation. SUPPLIEDArticle contentMy grandfather Hubert, on the odd summer morning, would send me and my buddy up to his sister Alice’s wee bungalow. She’d have sent for us seven-year-olds. She’d have a treat for us.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentArticle contentAnd we’d sit on her backstep, which was a step. This was the pre-deck age. And we’d sit there and Alice, a sweetheart, all 4-foot-9 of her, from 40 years in Boston, wearing cat glasses and a broad smile, in a full dress and fancy apron, she would come out with a boiled potato split in two, skin on, covered in salt and pepper and a swipe of butter. Half each. And a glass of water.Article contentArticle contentIt was profoundly beautiful. To this day, I think of Alice pretty much every time I boil potatoes.Article contentWhere was I going with this?Article contentYeah, they say potatoes aren’t good for you now. Full of starch, which, upon digestion, turns to sugar just like that, and there goes your blood sugar, and then you’ve got, somehow, inflammation, and well…Article contentThey’re the new egg.Article contentWhich is funny because eggs are the new blueberries. Twenty years ago, eggs were… you didn’t want to go anywhere near an egg. Full of cholesterol. Now? Eggs are unbelievable sources of protein and good things.Article contentAs are blueberries. A superfood. Not full of protein, but full of polyphenols and … yeah like I know what I’m talking about…Article contentIf you can have a cup of blueberries a day. A cup.Article contentWho eats a cup of blueberries a day? Back to my halcyon days, we used to grab a quart milk bottle or two… they were tall and made of glass… and we’d go picking blueberries to sell. Twenty-five cents a quart. Pounded down. Not fluffed up. Down by the No. 11 end of Renwick Brook in Glace Bay. A slow picker, I’d have starved making a living picking blueberries. But maybe not, because we’d eat our fill, filling a quart. But the thing is, blueberry season is short. August. So, practically and historically speaking, how are you going to eat a cup of blueberries a day in January? Plus, if I did go home and eat a cup of blueberries, I’d be killed.Article contentArticle contentI don’t know. All of a sudden, I’m concerned about my polyphenols. My fibre intake. Am I getting enough magnesium? B12?Article contentArticle contentI go on these websites and they’re talking about gut health. How your gut is pretty much your new brain. And OK. OK. Let’s go with that. Your gut feeds your brain. OK. So, you want to give your gut good stuff. You don’t want to be giving your gut carrageenans, guar gum, sodium acid pyrophosphate, chemicals cooked up in some sterile laboratory. You want to be giving your gut natural food. Not something the gut can’t understand. You want fibre, nutrients, good fat, salt salt as opposed to sodium salt, unrefined sugars, as found in fruit and berries and such.Article contentAsleep yet? You want to be feeding your gut real food, like carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, garlic, peppers, spinach, nuts, seeds, some fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir, Greek yogurt undisguised, cheese yes, your meats, your fish, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.Article contentWait! It seems that white rice and potatoes (recent enemies of the people), when cooked and then cooled and then reheated are good for you. Resistant starches that do marvelous deeds of some kind. They say you can actually fry up your cold spuds – skin on.Article contentI’ve been doing that all my life! What’s any better than a boiled potato left in the fridge and then taken out, chopped up and fried, and sorry, LATHERED in BUTTER (worth its weight in gold) with salt and pepper, with a couple of fried eggs? Or with a nice fish cake and some beans?Article contentI think we’re back to square one.Article contentThanks, Alice.Article contentMike Finigan, from Glace Bay, is a freelance writer now living in Sydney River. He can be contacted at cbloosechange@gmail.com. Article content
The poor potato: Columnist is not a doctor read with a grain of salt
