Anni Daulter’s book, Organically Raised, has been a highly anticipated look at how feeding our children organic and home cooked meals can map the course of health and well being through their lives. Anni is here today to share a bit of her life with us, and to explain just what the organic food movement can do to create healthy and happy families.
Welcome Anni
Tell us a bit about your family, and what inspired you to write your book.
My name is Anni Daulter and I am married to an amazing man, Tim and I have 4 incredible children, Zoe (age 12), Lotus Sunshine (age 5), Bodhi Ocean (age 3)& my little two week old, River Love. We try to live as simply as possible, keeping sustainability and natural living at the forefront of our daily lives. We believe in attachment parenting and keeping our kids in touch with nature and healthy living. I was inspired to write Organically Raised after feeding a ton of babies with my fresh organic baby food, Bohemian Baby. I had so many parents asking me important feeding questions every day and our recipes were so great, that I wanted to share my experience with cooking for babies and toddlers with other parents and explain why I think its critical to start babies off with organic tasty fresh foods.
The process of writing a book can be very intense. What has the journey been like for you so far?
This is my first book, and I have to say it’s a lot more work than I thought it would be! Having a lot of kids makes getting anything done a challenge, so I am really proud of what I have accomplished with Organically Raised and believe in this book with all my heart. It’s filled with the most cutting-edge information for new parents and has so many great recipes, and beautiful photos…its really hard to resist! I have a new-found respect for other cookbook authors, as I understand now how intense the process of recipe testing, photo shoots and deadlines really are! Mostly, I am just very grateful that I get to do what I love and they are paying me for it! I feel blessed…
Tell us about the inspiration for each of your recipes.
My recipes came from a lot of cooking and creating for my own family and then for all the bohemian babies we were feeding. I really like cooking seasonally and using what we have locally for inspiration. The most important things to me are that the food is fresh, organic and tastes great! Even babies care about taste, so it’s important to get it right! I like simple cooking that has a lot of flavor and makes you want to make it again and again.
How do you teach your children the importance and value of eating well and caring for their bodies?
Just by example really. They appreciate where food comes from, as we grow some of our own foods, and we also include them all in the cooking process. They love to be in the kitchen creating right along side of us and that family community activity is critical for passing down cooking traditions and teaching them healthy eating habits all at once.
How has writing this book changed the way you look at health and well being for children?
Ever since my first son Zoe was born 12 years ago, I have been dedicated to feeding my family healthy tasty food. I did not know how to cook back then, and had to teach myself everything. I have always been dedicated to natural and healthy living for my family and I am hoping this book inspires others to jump into that lifestyle with ease and simplicity. I want this book to be a go-to for parents as they seek important nutritional information and also want to simply make their families great food!
You provide mama mantras in your book, can you share one here?
Part of my cooking journey began at one of my favorite places in the world, Tassajara. It’s a Zen Buddhist living community in Carmel Valley. I spent many summers at Tassajara and have taken my children there over the years. As a student there in my younger years, I learned the value of conscious cooking and how bringing my awareness and presence to my cooking, makes the food not only taste better, but infuses it with my loving intentions. Mama Mantras came from this inspiration of trying to encourage parents to bring some awareness to their cooking and use their love for their families to remind them why they are creating the meal.
One mama mantra I have up in my own kitchen is, “Every grain of rice deserves my respect and my love is my most valuable ingredient in every dish!”
If you could impart one piece of wisdom to your children, what would it be?
Live in awareness, be kind to others, follow your heart path, only do what you love and do everything with joy, smile and laugh a lot, be passionate, help others when you can and embrace change, as it truly is the only constant in life.
Thanks so much for the interview and please visit me at Conscious Family Living & Organically Raised Cookbook which can be boughthere.
Anni has shared with us some recipes from her cookbook. We hope that you enjoy Baby Willow’s “Good Morning, Baby” recipes!