Mennonite Weekly Review

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — First there was Julie and Julia, the book and then movie, about one woman’s quest to make all the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Wendy Hammond of Grand Rapids, Mich., has set out to make every recipe in Simply in Season. — Photo provided by MC USA

Now there is “Simply Me: A year of eating locally, mindfully and simply,” a new blog by Wendy Hammond of Grand Rapids about her goal of making every recipe in Simply in Season (Herald Press, 2005).

“It started out with me wanting to make good use of fresh vegetables I was getting from the community shared agriculture organization I belong to,” said Hammond, who works in church relations for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee. “When I saw Simply in Season, I thought that would be a perfect way to do it.”

Like Julie Powell, the author of Julie and Julia, Hammond decided to take it a step further. She wanted to do more than just make the recipes. She wanted to use it as an opportunity to provide purpose and meaning, along with good food.

“I could relate to Powell,” she said. “I also related to the comfortable routine of cooking with one’s husband. I also wanted to do something to strengthen my feelings about food, health, eating locally and faith.”

Like Powell, who committed herself to making all 500 recipes in Child’s book in one year, Hammond would like to make the more than 300 recipes in Simply in Season in that same time frame. But she isn’t worried if she misses the goal.

“I’d like to do one recipe every day, but my travel schedule won’t allow that to be possible,” said Hammond of the project, which started in August. “Right now I’m averaging four to five recipes a week.”

Plus, she adds, “this isn’t a competition. It’s about learning to eat locally, mindfully and simply. It’s also supposed to be fun and a way to encourage other people to consider using Simply in Season.”

She also isn’t going to worry unduly about not being able to find every ingredient from a local farm.

“I’m committed to using local food, but not everything is available all year up here in Michigan,” she said. “While I will try to buy most of my vegetables locally, if I can’t find it here I will buy it from a grocery store.”