FOOD OVER 50

Dietary Fiber: Bulking Up On Taste

David Jackson reflects on the passage of time, watching himself on a mid-century television set as much younger David promotes the importance of fiber. This is from his first cooking show 35 years ago. The message is similar. Only the messenger has changed, which in point of fact makes a high fiber message all the more vital. The tasty menu includes David's delicious almost chicken soup, so loaded with hearty, healthy and fresh vegetables and beans that there's almost no room left for lean, skinless chunks of chicken breast. Then there's his adaption of a Middle Eastern classic, tabbouleh with artichoke. By adding this fibrous and flavorful vegetable, the equation is improved: fiber + fiber = delicious! Hungry viewers are also in store for an informative segment on "The Sources of Dietary Fiber," followed by Elizabeth's "Second Helpings" segment, which further informs viewers as to why more fiber in food is vital as we age. Wrapping up the episode, David goes back to his hideaway in the Outer Hebrides to work up a good sweat cutting peat for his "Earn What You Eat Segment." Hebridean peat, which is fuel rather than fodder, is 4,000 years of accumulated grass and heather compressed into Scottish firewood.