Heatwave; Burnin' my hunger

What do you cook when the weather heats up? – Sweaty Pringles

That really hasn’t been a problem in Oregon in ought-ten. After a springtime that could have been the backdrop for The Road, we have eased into a July/August that resembles May. Not really great for all of our local crops, but cruelly, the cool weather is good for eating.

But you didn’t ask about the weather, you asked about what I eat in hot weather. My habits aren’t that different from what most people do…Salads, sandwiches, grill, try to cook things like noodles in the morning when it is cool and make a pasta salad in the evening. The thing that changes most for me, after the lack of carbonara, is that I will go out to eat more in the heat than I will at any other time of the year. It both avoids heating up my apartment and gets me into some sweet A/C for 45 minutes.

I can’t find the article online or in the Saucytorium, so consider this an opinion rather than a citation: I remember reading a review of a study where a health professional found (I recall) a causation rather than a correlation, between the prevalence of air conditioning and societal weight gain. The hypothesis was, we don’t naturally curb our appetite in the heat because we are artificially cooled and we miss all the evolutionary cues our bodies and brains have concerning hunger. I want to believe this is true, I know I can walk into a cooled restaurant after 2 days of nominal eating and scarf a half pound burger and fries with a couple beers – exactly the type of 4500 calorie meal to help a fella grow…in the waist.

Last time it was near 100, I went with a Caesar Salad with smoked salmon. Penne pasta with arugula, chili peppers and olive oil. And huge sandwiches for breakfast – Big steak or ham sammys in the AM, when it is cool and goes down well with coffee. Historically, spaghetti tossed in sesame oil with pea pods and black sesame seeds, Chickpeas and Spanish Chorizo with spinach. Grilled turkeyburger and if I have some Thai Curry in the freezer I will dig it out, unthaw it and heat up the kitchen enough to make rice and veg.

For the most part, plenty of liquids…sip not slam. Fruit and veg with high moisture content, melon is made for the heat. Avoid salty foods, again delving into the arena of opinion, not fact, if you don’t eat out that much and aren’t a fan or prepared foods, it is hard to overdo the sodium. Mostly iced peppermint tea, fresh fruit, yogurt and whatever can go on the grill will get me through hot days.