It is 4:49 PM. I just got home and wheeled the dolly piled with three boxes and a cooler, a huge suitcase filled with knives, cutting boards, platters, pots, pans, an immersion blender, citrus juicer, my arsenal of spices, and countless other kitchen necessities, and a small carry-on sized suitcase filled with my personal belongings into my little Manhattan apartment. I guess this would not be called traveling light, but I just got home from an intense five day experience cooking for the Hazon nourishment cleanse retreat.

My cooking style is generally very health supportive with a focus on whole foods - local and seasonal whenever possible. I got my culinary training from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and the Culinary Arts. Currently, I develop cooking and nutrition curriculum and teach classes to low income kids and parents through the Children’s Aid Society, teach cooking classes at the JCC in Manhattan, and work with private clients, so I figured cooking for a nourishment cleanse would be nothing new. It was only after spending over an hour on the phone with Hale Sofia Schatz who was running a cleanse in Turkey at the time of our conversation, and would be leading our cleanse in New York, that I realized that this would be a truly unique experience.

No wheat, no sugar (meaning no sweeteners of any type including honey, maple syrup, agave nectar…), no vinegars, no grain, no dairy other than plain yogurt, were some of the parameters Hale laid out. I was excited, and up for the challenge of preparing three meals a day, plus snacks, for twelve people that fit within the specifications of Hale’s cleanse model.

Usually when I cook for individuals or groups for a multi-day event I have access to well stocked super markets or a farmers market nearby. I generally do some of the shopping in advance and then replenish/supplement what I have with fresh ingredients as needed. One of the things that makes Fire Island, our beautiful retreat destination (thanks Phylis & Marco!), uniquely charming is its lack of accessibility - no cars, no large stores. That meant that everything had to be purchased in advance.

Shopping became a serious project. An order was placed at Fresh Direct (where we got a 25% off discount for our first purchase - this promotion is available through some time in mid August) the epitome of NY food shopping and delivery convenience. I also made a huge purchase at the Union Square Farmers Market. I was excited to buy the first local cherries of the season, magnificent salad greens, unbelievable fresh herbs, delicate asparagus, and overflowing baskets of small crimson strawberries. I was truly a sight to behold as I lugged five dozen farm fresh free range eggs, two massive (think extra large industrial trash bag sized) bags and an overflowing back pack full of fresh fruits and vegetables through Union Square.

Though I had already made two large purchases my shopping was far from complete. In order to fulfil both the dietary specifications of the cleanse, and the need to find a version of each ingredient that was certified kosher, I found myself on a multi-day scavenger hunt. I am happy to report that you can find a wide selection of hechshered (kosher certified) seaweed and miso on the second floor of Fairway on the upper west side as well as at the West Side Health Food Store, your best bet for high quality kosher olives that are packaged in olive oil rather than a vinegar brine is Trader Joe’s on 14th st. where you can also find great kosher wild canned salmon. The West Side Market which recently reopened on 110th and Broadway has magnificent avocados. My shopping expedition also took me to Whole Foods, Gourmet Garage, Gristedes, and Garden of Eden.

So what kind of quantities are we talking about? To give you an idea: I purchased 46 large haas avocados (Thanks West Side Market for giving me a bulk purchase discount), 40 lemons, 40 apples, 35 bananas, 80 sheets of nori, approximately 50 large bunches of greens including kale, chard, spinach, dandelion greens, and collards, 30 pounds of potatoes, 17 pounds of sweet potatoes, 22 pounds of onions, 25 yellow and green zucchinis, 3 large fillets of fresh wild king salmon, 101 ounces of extra virgin olive oil, and the list goes on including red and golden beats, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, ginger, chayote squash, herbal teas…

Throughout the entire preparation process it seemed that the burning question on everyone’s mind seemed to be “what will we actually eat?” After a second conversation with Hale, we decided not to give the staff an advance peek at the menu, in fact we concluded that it would be best to develop the menu somewhat spontaniounsly on-site after we got a better sense of the needs of the specific group we would be working with. All of the participants would just have to be kept in a state of suspense a little bit longer…. and I guess you will too since I will be writing about what I actually cooked in my next post coming soon.