Mother, Father, Baby, Chocolate Egg
Postnatal cooking
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I didn’t plan on writing about and sending a newsletter about today’s topic. In fact, in many ways I denied it’s importance or the possibility that I might have an interest in exploring the topic. The scheduled newsletter was going to have a look at TikTok food videos try to break down what the fuck is going on there.
However, things change and circumstances shift and the way in which the Easter weekend played out there is now a baby, a beautiful new mother and a father who need feeding. So for the next couple of months this is the food I will be cooking. In honour of that, this newsletter will look at postnatal cooking, what I have managed to learn about it over the last few months, and what it might look like in the kitchen if you are expecting any time soon.
Just to confirm it is not my baby, no. However, it’s the first in the family and in terms of uncles that have a bad influence on nephews I intend (when the time comes) to be a terrible and yet affectionately positive influence on the tiny squid. That starts now. So I cook.
Over the next couple of months there will be a selection of recipes posted within this topic that can act as a guide for anyone who needs to cook for friends or loved ones who have just had a baby. Or, alternatively, if you are planning on cooking for someone who is expecting, this can act like a guide for what can be cooked during postpartum confinement.
As usual, if you like the article or the recipes, screenshot, share, instagram, post, tweet. You know the drill. And tell your friends about Morsels. Tell so many it feels a little uncomfortable, I dare you.
I started looking into postpartum food a few months ago. My brother and my sister in law were expecting a baby. It arrived last Saturday. My sister in law gave birth fast and without any issues, a relief and a joy to hear. I couldn’t be more proud of her. My brother documented and helped and was there with her the whole time. They are both incredible and are already wonderful parents.
Since I was told they were expecting I’ve been trying to figure out how I can support them. Close friends who are mothers have confided that the time right after birth can be far more stressful than you ever anticipate. I have been told that the exhaustion, the milk production, the feeding and the social expectation to offer the baby up for examination can be entirely overwhelming. Not only do women go through this incredibly dramatic and physically life changing experience in giving birth, but according to Doctor and Midwife Aviva Romm ‘The postpartum hormonal drop is considered the single largest sudden hormone change in the shortest amount of time for any human being, at any point in their life cycle.’
Yet so much of what I have read in Australia is baby-focused. So little of the information available or the conversations being had around birth are about parents and even less attention is focused on the needs of the new mother. I was surprised by this. I know, as a man in his mid 30’s who is yet to have any children, I can’t hold any sort of authority at all around this topic. I can only read and research and have conversations with the people I know who have recently (or not so recently) given birth. Consistently mothers have told me that the time after giving birth was a time of exhaustion, confusion and often isolation. At a time where new parents need support, when new mothers need to heal, the support is often directed away from the mother and towards the baby, focused on its needs rather than the mother’s needs.
I hadn’t heard of the concept of postpartum confinement until recently. A friend lent me a book titled The First 40 days, by Amely Greeven, Hung Ou, and Marisa Belgershe. The book is based around the Chinese postpartum tradition. In China it is called ‘zuò yuè zi’ (sitting the month); in India it is called ‘jaappa’ in Hindi and in Pakistan it is called ‘sawa mahina’ (five weeks); and in Korea it is called ‘samchil-it’ (three seven days), which is also attached to the word sanhujori’ (to receive postpartum care); In Latin America the first 40 days in known as ‘la cuaretenc,’ which effectively translates to quarantine; and in Persian culture it is called ‘chilla’ (40 days). The first 40 days post birth are to be restful and restorative - a practice of warmth and stillness that is intrinsically linked to postpartum care.
A huge part of postpartum care as a mother is being able to eat. More specifically being able to eat food that will not only heal the body and replenish its stores, but simultaneously stimulate milk production for the baby while calming the nervous system of the mother. Rest is vital but often not encouraged as much as it should be. Speaking to my sister in law this is clear: "The need to slow down as much as possible, to give in and rest (with) so much expectation culturally to push past, move, get walking but really, to fully heal, that mindset needs to change.” I can only imagine how hard it is to rest and to heal and to nurture and to feed. Certain foods, nutritionally and emotionally, are more appropriate in this circumstance.
I am not an expert on postpartum cooking. So the reading began. All I have done is read what is widely available in the bookstores and online. The books I read that gave me the most information were The First Forty Days, by Amely Greeven, Hung Ou, and Marisa Belger; The Postnatal Cookbook, by Karen Soloff; From Mothers to Mothers: A Collection of Traditional Asian Postpartum Recipes, by the Asian American Pacific Islander Health Research Group; and Eat to Feed: 80 Nourishing Recipes for Breastfeeding Moms, by Eliza Larson and Kristy Kohler.
As a brief takeaway from what I have read, the key to food you want to eat postpartum is that it is both nutritious and warming for the body. What goes into the breastfeeding mother’s body comes out of the body as milk. Sure, this is something we already know, yet what needs to be considered and understood is that not only do mothers have to feed a new born they also have to repair and heal from the extraordinary experience they have just had. The food needs to be healing, warming, calming, soothing, and full of nutrients and if possible protein heavy, in an easily digestible form. The body doesn’t have time in this recovery to be digesting heavy, rich, indulgent food. So all of these objectives need to be achieved with simplicity. Alongside that, the food needs to be calming and restorative. It needs to fill that craving that is in the mother to heal and to be fed. The food needs to comfort the mother in the same way the mother is comforting the child.
This is difficult and time consuming and if I’m honest, I could not ever imagine having to cook in this way (or cook at all, at that) after giving birth. The consideration of ingredients, the desire for diversity, the different cravings throughout what - no doubt - are incredibly long days, would all be too much for me as a new father, let alone ever being able to deal with it as a mother.
So, on the advice of friends and mothers I’m going to be cooking. For the next 6 weeks and beyond, if necessary, I will be cooking and delivering meals to my sister in law and my brother. I will be supporting them in the best way I know how. By feeding them.
I’m not that good at much. If I were to break the ‘much’ down it would include skiing, schvitzing, and cooking, and at a stretch making up absurd stories with great detail and meaning that are somehow more suited towards toddlers than adults. My thought was, if I could offer them anything to help support and care and show my love it should be something I could uniquely offer, something I am good at. Something that I can effectively show my love and affection through. The kid is not old enough for skiing lessons, has just spent nine months in what is often crudely described as an oven, and is (sadly for everyone) not yet mature enough to be at all interested in the stories I have to tell. Food is what’s left.
I will be posting what I cook for them. The recipes are healing and comforting and full of the affection and love I hold for my family, and for this tiny little squid who has only been with us a couple of days.
Coconut Dahl with Ginger
This may seem like an intimidating recipe but it’s very straightforward and very very easy. Once all the ingredients are in it takes care of itself. It’s somewhat of a pump and dump recipe. A quick bit of weighing, a short burst of cooking and observation and then a whole lot of benefit.
Ingredients:
8gr cumin seeds
8gr coriander seed
10gr fenugreek seed
6gr star anise
5gr cardomen pod
10gr cinnamon stick
2gr dried kashmiri chilli
50gr ginger peeled and cut in match sticks
10gr Yellow mustard seeds
15 dried curried leaves
400gr tinned tomatoes
500ml of chicken stock (or vegetable stock or powdered stock)
1 tin of coconut milk
80gr onion
40gr garlic
5gr tumeric powder
4gr curry powder
60ml Veg oil OR Ghee
Black lentils 150gr
Method:
In a large pot heat the vegetable oil over medium heat.
When the oils hot add and roast the cumin, coriander, fenugreek, cardamon, star anise, and the cinnamon stick stirring the spices to coat them in the oil.
N.b - they are roasted when the aromatics of the seeds are released. That is to say when you can smell them move onto the next step.
When the spices are roasted and aromatic, add the onion and the garlic and fry, while stirring on medium heat.
When the onions and garlic are translucent and about to brown add the lentils and stir.
Next, add the coconut milk the tinned tomatoes and stir to combine.
Add the chilli, the mustard seeds, the stock, the curry powder, the dried curry leaves and the ginger.
Bring to the boil over medium heat and reduce to a simmer.
Cook until the lentils are ready (60 minutes) or until it has cooked down and you have reached your desired consistency and thickness. If it requires more liquid, while it’s cooking top it up with stock.
Wet Rice with Chicken Broth
This is a base recipe, play with it as you will this is where you start. This is not a traditional take on any sort of wet rice or congee or sorts. It is rice with stock, not as a risotto but as a comforting dish of warming grains that can either wake you up with a huge hug for the day or but you to sleep where you sit. Depending on which rice you use, you may need a bit more or less liquid in the batch. The intention of this recipe is to be easy. If you want to wash the rice, you can, if you don’t want to - don’t it’s ok.
Ingredients:
100gr basmati rice
500ml chicken broth
20ml white wine vinegar OR 40ml rice wine vinegar
Method:
Add the rice and 300ml of stock to a pot and place it on a low to medium heat.
Allow the rice to come to boil and stir the rice vigorously with a wooden spoon or by taking the handle of the pot and swirling the rice (the intention is to break some of the grains to add starch to the broth).
Add the vinegar and reduce to a low heat.
Simmer for 20minutes, continuing to add broth 50ml at a time where necessary.
After a 20min simmer taste the rice to see if it’s cooked. Taste in 5 minutes intervals after that, adding broth where necessary.
When the rice is cooking, continuing stirring occasionally, add the remaining broth and leave to cool or eat straight away.
This can last in the fridge for 3 - 4 days and is best served with a fried egg and some blanched greens or just eaten on it’s own. It’s comforting in a way that is, while I may try, very difficult to describe.
Words & recipes by Daniel Wilson
Daniel has a Masters in Food Culture from The University of Gastronomic Science in Pollenzo, Italy. He is a chef and recovering restaurateur