Colour me hungry

So you know when you were a kid and your mom told you to make a salad? What did you put into the salad? Some kids were probably lazy and just did lettuce and tomatoes. Other kids probably just followed whatever instructions their mom gave them. For me, I always made sure that my salad was colourful. I didn't really think about how it would taste, really. Nor did I really think about the nutritional value of the ingredients I was adding. Rather, I would simply stand back and admire the salad to determine if it was colourful enough.

Now, I always thought that this silly habit of mine was due to the fact that I was a bit of an artsy kid. I loved to paint, draw, sculpt Play-doh, and flip through art books. Now, MSN is telling me that my compulsion for creating colourful meals might actually be an instinctual mechanism for ensuring I have all of the vitamins and minerals I need to be healthy. According to this article, my love of colourful foods is actually heart-healthy and contributes to keeping me young. Who knew?

This strange compulsion of mine has followed me into adulthood, thankfully. I love the contrast of blueberries against the golden flesh of mangoes. Or the way the red and white of radishes contrasts so nicely against the green of the lettuce. And I really love how the green specks of parsley and basil float around in the red of my tomato sauce. So get out your colour wheel and start cooking!