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Healthy Food Adventures for Tu B’Shevat … Or Any Time

Aliza J. Sokolow’s new book, “This is What I Eat: Fun Activities for Mindful Eating,” is the ideal Tu B’Shevat guide for those who want to instill a love of healthy eating in their kids, 
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February 2, 2023
Aliza Sokolow (Photo by Izak Rappaport )

Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of nature. 

Taking place on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, this year Tu B’Shevat runs from sundown on February 5 through sundown February 6. 

This is the perfect time to enjoy the great outdoors, and explore fruit — especially Israeli fruits like figs, dates and carobs — and nuts and vegetables. 

Aliza J. Sokolow’s new book, “This is What I Eat: Fun Activities for Mindful Eating,” is the ideal Tu B’Shevat guide for those who want to instill a love of healthy eating in their kids, 

With more than 30 activities and journal pages, as well as a focus on community and humanity, “This is What I Eat” is a great roadmap for culinary exploration.

“I grew up with a very culturally Jewish family … and healthy eating was something that my parents were very into,” Sokolow told the Journal. “Keeping a healthy lifestyle from the inside out is something I’ve always thought was an important value, Jewish or not Jewish.”

A second-generation Angeleno, Sokolow, a private chef, food stylist and photographer, grew up celebrating Shabbat every week with all of her aunts, uncles and cousins. So, in addition to eating, her book talks about family dynamics, the different ways that families eat together and “how food is different, but also very much the same,” she said.

“This is What I Eat” also highlights different meals from around the world. The one from Israel features pita, hummus, falafel and kebabs.

“I love eating Middle Eastern food, and I make it a lot,” Sokolow said. “When I’m in Israel, I’m always so proud of all the [beautiful] fruits and vegetables that they have at the shuk in Tel Aviv. It’s very healthy eating in Israel. I love eating watermelon with feta and mint at the beach.”

As Tu B’Shevat is a planting holiday, the book has pages on water, soil health, planting your own fruits, vegetables and herbs (“My sister and I used to take avocado pits and replant them in water at our window sill,” Sokolow said), and other growing-related activities. Sokolow also lays out the many options on how to eat fruits and vegetables to inspire conversation and action.

“It’s really just about the earth, eating healthy and doing things that have to do with keeping the cycle moving around,” she said. 

Growing up as a competitive swimmer, Sokolow intuitively knew food was fuel. About 12 years ago, she was hired to work with award-winning chef Jamie Oliver on his “Jamie’s American Food Revolution” television show, which was set in the LA Unified School District. This was eye-opening for Sokolow, as well as life changing.

“We worked with kids in schools in lower-income areas, who had a lot of health issues, based upon their diets,” she said. Many of them had type 2 diabetes and were overweight. They had never eaten salad and their recess times were being cut down. Then they got into the kitchen together. 

“I was working elbow-to-elbow with these kids who had never eaten fresh vegetables,” she said. Sokolow saw the impact healthy eating had on these kids, seeing their faces and how they felt when they changed some of the things that they were eating. 

“I knew this was something I wanted to do with my life.”

Sokolow, who sees the world through colors, shapes and sizes, explained that she wanted to write a book that was for both kids and parents. That was more of “having fun with food” instead of “Eat your vegetables. They’re good for you.”

Adding the element of fun, for instance if you’re going grocery shopping with your kid, is a tool that promotes healthy eating.

One such exercise, a food scavenger hunt, comes from Sokolow’s experience with her nephew, who would get bored going to the farmers market. She suggested, “Let’s find one fruit or vegetable of each color, and really make it a fun activity.” It made all the difference.

“Kids love a scavenger hunt and they love to [check] things off,” she said. “So, finding a strawberry and an orange and an eggplant and blueberries, things of different colors, make things more relatable in their minds.”

While they might not know the flavor, they’re able to see a distinction between all the different colors that make up food.

“A lot of my friends have kids who are very into white foods; they only want buttered noodles,” Sokolow said. ‘They’re like, ‘Thank you for making this book. My kid is now excited to try other things.’”

Sokolow is really focused on this education component (for instance, a lot of people think there’s just like a red and a green apple; there are 7,500 types of apples). She is excited to break people out of the “buttered noodle” category and loves seeing families use her book.

“It means so much to me that my creation is really impacting people,” she said.

Sokolow grew up going to Jewish school. They always did SOVA drives at school, which she also mentions in the book. And as an adult, Shabbat is still something she does often.

“I really try to live my life through being a mensch and being a good person and giving back,” she said. “I think to be Chesed and a person with integrity and goodness is something that encapsulates Jewish values; it’s very much what I try to live by.”

Sokolow’s love for fruit and vegetables, as well as art, dates back to her childhood, when the Jewish holidays were an opportunity to create art.

“My grandmother (my dad’s mom) was the most incredible artist and sculptor,” she said. “Every year for Sukkot my Nonny, my sister, and I would make the most incredible Sukkot decorations.”

Everything Sokolow’s grandmother drew (bananas, strawberries) looked realistic. They would also handmade new year’s cards. It was an incredible art education.

“We’d do really cool paintings for Rosh Hashanah or a collage with different kinds of apples,” she said. “I had a book party last week, and [people said], ‘We have every card you and your sister have ever made from Rosh Hashanah, because they are so beautiful.’”

Now, Sokolow has put all of the things she loves together in service of helping families enjoy healthy food. In fact, a lot of the illustrations in the book are inspired by her food photographs, taken at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

“Your body is very much made up of what you’re putting in it. So I say to people sometimes, ‘Do you want to feel like a blueberry? Or do you want to feel like Cheetos?’”

“You truly are what you eat,” she said. “Your body is very much made up of what you’re putting in it. So I say to people sometimes, ‘Do you want to feel like a blueberry? Or do you want to feel like Cheetos?’”

When you eat more fruits and vegetables it changes the way you feel. And that changes everything!

One Tu B’Shevat custom is to eat fruits you haven’t tasted before. “This is What I Eat” is the perfect way to explore and discover new food as a family.

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