I am fond of Nigella rather than Ella. No diets, just taste. I'm always ranting about the hipster foods, pointless avoidance of gluten and dairy, imaginary intolerances, making fun of the kale-and-quinoa brigade – and imagine that here I am making a smoothie with chia seeds and milk substitutes! Before you fall over, let me explain how it came about.
I was browsing the NY Times cooking as I do faithfully every week, my kitchen slowly turning into the NY Times outpost I cook so many of their recipes, and there it was, an almond milk, chia and agave smoothie. Briefly – the epitome of what I usually sneer at. Vegan. Gluten free. Dairy free. A smoothie (like, what’s happened to biting into fruit and veg instead of pureeing it, baby food fashion? And for that matter, what’s happened to ‘milkshakes’??). Sounding gross to boot. ‘Gelatinous’ – yuck!
I imagined I’d make it, taste it, run in the general direction of the sink spluttering and retching, attempt to obliterate the aftertaste with an enormous cream cake and report the horrific adventure of my taste buds on these pages. ‘See?’ I’d say, ‘Tried it. No one will now convince me that stuff is edible’.
And I would have, if not for one small unforeseen detail.
It was delicious.