I've just begun to use my imagination to help me with the paleo diet.  I'm
shopping these days at two small speciality stores much more than a
supermarket -- a butcher shop and a food coop -- which I go to on my motorized
scooter.  It takes a lot of time and some energy for me to shop this way, as
opposed to ordering on the phone for a supermarket order to be delivered to
me, and I imagine it as my urban, over-civilized version of hunting and
gathering.  I also go to other specialty stores within a three mile radius of
my apartment, which is near downtown Minneapolis. My effete method of h/g is
all I can handle right now at my age, weight, and physical condition -- I'm
59, weigh about 355 (down from 438), and am suffering from various medical
consequences of obesity including sleep apnea, weakness, fatigue, edema,
shortness of breath, requiring me to use my scooter if I want to go anywhere
much.

So -- I grab my cloth shopping bags and ride off to hunt and gather filters
for my water purifying pitcher, strips of round steak for jerky, sea and
mineral salt,  organic veggies, imported high quality olive oil, etc.  It
takes a long time, and I'm sorry winter is coming when I won't be able to use
my scooter as much.

After carrying my quarry back to my dwelling, I wash and chop veggies for a
long time.  I'm finding that the most satisfying raw veggies are a dense
salad.  I put about a dozen chopped veggies into a big bowl and add Italian
parsley and/or jalepeno peppers and/or olives and/or raisins plus olive oil
and lemon juice.  This salad will last for four or five days and I eat it
twice a day.  It's filling, tasty, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  I
cook some large chunks of meat in my clay pot and eat it for several days.
These are my methods of preserving my food stores.  I haven't gotten to
pemmican yet -- I'm only seven weeks into this wayof eating  -- but I have
made jerky and liked it a lot.

I smile a lot as I compare my effete method of h/g to the h/g of my Northern
European ancestors -- but thinking about my connection to them through many,
many generations helps me feel connected to both the past and to my own body
in new and peaceful ways.  It would be even better if I were, like Ray, a
falconer walking about savannas catching rabbits -- but that's just not where
I'm at.   I do have a friend scouting among her hunting friends for a
butchered deer for us to share!  And I am feeling so much better after seven
weeks on paleo that maybe I'll actually be able to get back in a canoe or
other small boat next summer and do a little fishing!

Caryl

Caryl