Hi and welcome to my blog! I am Caro and on this blog I share my plant-based recipes, inspirations and thoughts on local & seasonal whole foods with you. I’ll also get into topics from a scientific nutritional perspective, write about sustainable projects that have caught my attention and drop the occasional restaurant tip. In German “kochen” means “to cook”, thus the name “CaroKocht”. 🙂
My background
I am in my late 20s and currently living in Berlin—the vegan food capital! Originally, I come from a tiny village in the South of Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin. Growing up, I spent a lot of time outdoors. Our family house has a large garden and the village is surrounded by meadows, agricultural area and forests. I was born right into a great period of turmoil, still in the German Democratic Republic but shortly before the German reunification. Even though the fall of the wall happened soon after my arrival, the newly arriving capitalism had a huge effect on my childhood. Before I was born my family was used to constant scarcity of (luxury) foods. You wanted figs, bananas or cashews? People probably did not know these products at all. Most of the food consumed was harvested in our own garden, preserved, bottled and dried. High quality produce was, therefore, highly appreciated by the people. Meat was eaten to a certain extent—my family held chickens, ducks and even cattle. Occasionally, a pig was bought and slaughtered at home, always using nose to tail! People made their own sausages, preserves, they smoked and cured meat. But with the reunification convenience foods rained down on everyone. Spice powders full of MSG, cheap milk chocolate and sweetened fruit yogurts took over…
Even though at home my mum cooked relatively healthy and—most importantly—with fresh ingredients I started developing some rather unhealthy habits. I ate tons of candy and chocolate without realising how much industrial sugar and artificial addititves I was putting in my body. Let alone the environmental consequences of palm oil plantations on the rain forest. On a regular base I consumed supposedly healthy granolas, muesli bars, sweetened fruit yogurts and puddings and bread spreads. If I look at the ingredient lists of some of these products today I feel sick to my stomach! I also ate tons of meat—I couldn’t imagine my “Brotzeit” without cold cuts.
Seasonal & local
Since my parents did not get to travel much at all prior to the German reunification, we travelled a lot during my childhood. On those trips I accumulated a vast knowledge on international cuisines and got my fair share of exotic foods. On top of that, I spent a high school exchange year in Mexico, studied for one semestre in Beijing and wrote my master thesis on a research project in Kenya.
It’s probably this exposure to ripe exotic fruit, in particular, that made it easy for me to do without in my daily routine. Once you’ve had a ripe and juicy mango during mango season in Kenya or perfect avocados in Mexico, it is just not the same back here. Of course, I do make exceptions occasionally.
Seasons bring variety to the plate
During my stays abroad I have come to appreciate the seasons even more. Staying in a places where climate was pretty stable throughout the year made me long for those Indian summer days, nights already cold. You start looking forward to cozy winter sweaters, being cuddled up under a blanket with some hot chocolate. When winter comes to an end I can’t wait for asparagus season, the first strawberries and longer days filled with sunshine. As soon as May arrives the abundance of local fresh fruit and vegetables is hard to beat. Berry season and stone fruits take over my breakfast bowls. And once the harvest of these is completed there is no need to get sad since fresh plums, figs and persimmons are already waiting for us! Seasonal cooking is not only more sustainable but also more exciting and diverse.
Plant-based wholefoods diet
Today, my diet can probably best be described as a plant-based wholefoods diet. I try to eat healthy and mostly plant-based reducing animal products to bare minimum. Occasionally, I eat eggs from the chickens my family keeps in the garden. When at home, I also enjoy small amounts of artisanal organic cheese. Meat and fish haven’t been on my table for quite some time now, however I am not gonna say that I’ll never eat those foods again. On special occasions, I may make an exception. I avoid highly processed foods such as refined flours and sugars, high sodium foods, lemonades and fruit juices as well as most convenience foods.
Some people may wonder not—what are you eating on a daily base? Well, everything mother nature has to offer. And that’s plenty
- Vegetables, mostly greens and cabbage, roots and tubers as well as classic vegetable crops (e.g. bell peppers, eggplant etc.)
- Fruit (mostly European and as seasonal as possible; I freeze and presever a lot of ripe fruit in summer but also buy e.g. frozen berries in winter for a little variety)
- Legumes (all types of beans, peas, lentils—this list alone is endless!)
- Grains (oats, spelt, rye, green spelt, corn, millet, rice—always go for whole grain and untreated)
- Bread (ideally sour dough from whole grain flours) & pasta (from whole grain flours or made from pulses)
- Pseudo grains such as e.g. buckwheat or quinoa
- Nuts, seeds & kernels (as a topping, for baking or to make nut milks, vegan cheese etc.)ustellen)
Apart from fruit and veggies, which I prefer to buy from local farmers either at the farmers’ market or farm shops, you can purchase all these staple foods in bulk and store in jars. That will save you money and avoid unnessecary plastic packaging.
In addition, I love fermented products, such as sauerkraut. Quick pickles, e.g. red onions or radishes can always be found in my fridge. I love tempeh, miso paste and seaweeds. Weiterhin liebe ich fermentierte Produkte wie z.B. Sauerkraut und habe meist in Essig eingelegtes Gemüse wie z.B. rote Zwiebeln oder Rettich im Kühlschrank. Zudem gibt es immer Tempeh, Miso-Paste & Meeresalgen in meinem Haushalt. Gewürze – sowohl aus der Heimat aber auch von fernen Orten mitgebracht – sind meine Geheimwaffe und für sie gebe ich gerne auch mal etwas mehr Geld aus. Mit edlen Ölen und Essigen kann man mir auch immer eine Freude machen. Ein gutes Olivenöl, Kokosöl sowie ein schönes kalt gepresstes Omega-3 Öl für Salate sollte immer vorhanden sein.
Mit solch einer „Vorratskammer“ sollte es absolut kein Problem sein immer frisch zu kochen. Auch mit nur einigen ausgewählten Zutaten vom Wochenmarkt lässt sich so immer eine wunderbare, vollwertige Mahlzeit kochen. Mehr über meine Einstellung zur Ernährung könnt ihr übrigens auch in meinem Food Philosophie Beitrag lesen.
Meine “Mission” – kein Dogmatismus!
Mit meinen veganen und vegetarischen Rezepten möchte ich versuchen, meine Begeisterung für gesunde pflanzliche Vollwertküche mit euch zu teilen. Bitte betrachtet meine Rezepte nicht als strenge Anleitungen sondern vielmehr als Inspirationen. Natürlich können alle meine Rezepte auch eins-zu-eins nachgekocht werden. Ich möchte aber nicht missionieren, jeder muss für sich persönlich die richtige Ernährungsform finden.
Mein eigentliches Ziel ist es, mehr Menschen dazu zu bewegen, einfach mal wieder auf den Wochenmarkt zu gehen, saisonale Lebensmittel zu kaufen, und mithilfe von ein paar anderen Grundnahrungsmitteln – die man im Prinzip immer zuhause haben kann – gesunde, leckere Gerichte zu kochen. Darum erwähne ich auch bei jedem Rezept ein paar Variationen, damit ihr seht, wie einfach es ist Rezepte an die verschiedenen Jahreszeiten anzupassen.
Nachhaltigkeit – meine Buch- und Filmtipps
Ich hoffe ihr seid genauso interessiert an Nachhaltigkeit und den Vorzügen einer überwiegend pflanzlichen Ernährung. Falls ihr euch intensiver mit dem Thema auseinander setzen wollt, kann ich euch diese Bücher und Dokumentation ans Herz legen:
Sachbücher
- “The Botany of Desire” von Michael Pollan (gibt’s auch auf Deutsch: „Die Botanik der Begierde“ – insbesondere das letzte Kapitel über die Kartoffel hat es mir angetan!)
- “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest” von Dan Buettner (leider nicht auf Deutsch erhältlich – zeigt Ernährungsform & Lebensstil der Menschen mit besonders hoher Lebenserwartung auf)
- “How Not to Die: Entdecken Sie Nahrungsmittel, die Ihr Leben verlängern – und bewiesenermaßen Krankheiten vorbeugen und heilen” von Michael Greger (zugegeben, der Titel ist ziemlich reißerisch, aber viele vorgestellte Studienergebnisse sind äußerst interessant)
Dokus
- “Before the Flood” von Leonardo DiCaprio (kostenlos auf YouTube)
- “Cooked” by Michael Pollan (auf Netflix)
- “The End of Meat” von Marc Pierschel (relativ neuer Film aus 2017 ausnahmsweise mal von einem deutschen Produzenten mit interessanten Zukunftsvisionen in der zweiten Hälfte des Films)
Kochbücher
- “The Art of Eating Well” von Amy Chaplin
- “Plenty” und “Plenty More” von Yotam Ottolenghi
- “Bowls of Goodness” von Nina Olssen vom Blog Nourish Atelier