Safer just cooking the "old fashioned" way man. Stew is easy. Saute all your veg, meat or whatever for a few minutes, cover with stock or water, cover, leave on low heat till ready. Check regularly in case it needs liquid.
Interesting thread. Despite a lot of back and forth between posters I'm still not sure what is counted as hippie food but I like to use a lot of locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. I buy a lot of my produce at farmer's markets and specialty markets. I do buy some stuff at giant warehouse like standard American big box grocery stores but when I grocery shop its like a day long process that involves 3-4 stops. I even recently did some foraging for shellfish and seaweed at the beach. That was an almost spiritual experience. It really helps you appreciate the responsibility we have as the creatures on the top of the food chain
For a run down on what hippy food might be read Alicia Bay Laurel's "Living on the Earth" or perhaps Frances Moore Lapee's "Diet for a Small Planet." Those were the tomes that influenced a generation beginning in the 1970s. Before that we had folks like 'Nature Boy' preaching the joys of vegetarianism. Vegans and vegetarians seem to be the most planetary conscious food consumers on the planet, and that is probably the best definition of Hippy Food. A A plant based diet.
An important part of "hippie food" is the packaging, or lack thereof. I remember Eugene, Oregon in the 70s. The only prepackaged food I bought was tomatoes in cans and fresh tofu from Golden Temple in a plastic bag and Solstice Bakery bread in a plastic bag. Everything else was bulk or fresh. And all scraps got composted or fed to chickens (I didn't eat chicken at the time). So hippie food is not just all about what you eat, but how it's grown (organically), how it's packaged, how it's sold (local, ethical businesses or coops), what is the impact on the environment of what you eat and how it's processed and packaged. Nowadays far more people are conscious about what they eat, but back in 60s 70s 80s most people did care much at all and never considered all the consequences of their uninformed dietary decisions. And that has led to a huge industry that is blind to the long-term effects of corporate mass consumer food culture.
