About This Blog

Hi! I'm Melodie! Wife to Kevin. Mommy to Caleb (age 1). Child of God. Passionate about faith, family, missions, photography, natural parenting, healthy living, food preparation, and studying nutrition.

This blog is all about making a traditional foods diet practical and affordable to the average person. In a society filled with conflicting diet information, I choose to eat the foods that nourished our ancestors and are continuing to nourish tribal peoples today (as I've had the privilege to experience first hand). Much of what I believe comes from the teachings of the Weston A. Price Foundation which I learned in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.   

I have a unique perspective on life due to my upbringing in West Africa and years as a missionary in Liberia. I grew up without the fast paced life of my peers and enjoyed raising animals, sewing, riding bikes, hiking in the rain forest, and trying to make American tasting foods with limited local ingredients. Yes, I even swung from vines into rivers! Did I have a pet monkey? Yes, again. (Note; they are NOT all they are cracked up to be!) 

I loved my upbringing and hope to go back to Africa some day. (Click here for more details on my upbringing in Africa). As an adult I worked with orphans, adoption, Bible teaching and counseling. Check out my personal blog - Africa's Melodie - if you want to learn more about my time as a missionary in Africa. I've also started a Q&A on adoption.

These days I spend most of my time in the kitchen getting my toddler out of trouble. When Caleb is corralled and safe, and not mountain climbing the furniture, I experiment a lot. I love taking real food concepts to recreate meals that appeal to the average American tastes, as well as coming up with the most frugal way to eat a traditional foods diet.

A few notes about my blog:

1. What's with the name? I just like sweet basil, and I love herbs and spices! Since "Healthy, Cheap Traditional Foods From Africa Nutrition Lady" didn't have a very catchy ring, I chose Sweet Basil 'n Spice.

2. I feel it is up to the reader to decide just how "healthy" they want to make the recipes I share. For example, I will ask for "one tomato" not "one organic tomato". The recipe will be a success if you use a tomato - whether or not it's organic is irrelevant to my post.

3. On the sidebar I've included a recipe and topical index as well as the "labels" section where you can search for recipes by ingredients and additional labels like "vegetarian" or "Middle Eastern". Recipes that comply with the nutrition standards taught in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook are labeled as such.

4. Please feel free to copy most of my recipes to your personal blog. I just ask that you leave a link back to my recipe blog here. I have a few recipes that I created and have worked really hard. For these (and I've made it clear which ones they are) I'd rather you link back to my blog for the recipe and not post them on the internet. Thanks!

5. Unless otherwise specified, all the photographs used in this blog are mine. I also happen to be a contributor for iStockphoto. I sell royalty-free images of African people as well as a few other categories. Chick here to view my portfolio; Portfolio: MissHibiscus. Please contact me if you are  interested in any of my photos you see on the blog that are not available on iStockphoto.

6. To get in touch with me personally you can email me at ivorycmelodie(at)hotmail.com.