In the regular vocabulary of the modern-day celebrity chef are words you seldom hear in culinary school or cookery courses. "Seasonal" and "fresh" are the most popular. Among the more thoughtful and responsible chefs you'll hear "nutritional value" and "portion control."

But with the festive season approaching, even those who heed those words will most likely deafen themselves to them till the New Year. Somehow they suggest deprivation and an asceticism we don't want to associate with holiday celebrations.

Jolly-occasion food is loaded with special-treat ingredients like sugar and butter and chocolate. Sauces are made luxurious with slicks of cream. You don't have to deny yourself these pleasures at Christmas -- just eat them in moderation.

But if you want to enjoy not only a merry Yuletide but a happy New Year and years to come, take to your heart (and for your heart) the following.

To get the most bang for your buck and the greatest intensity of flavor along with the healthiest food, buy the best ingredients you can afford and cook them with minimal fuss. Add several vegetable side dishes to a roasted, naturally raised and more expensive chicken, and you will stretch it out to feed more people.

You will be surprised how much good ingredients burst with flavor. Fats, salts and sweetness are too often used in processed or cheap foods to disguise poor quality of content.

For example: Mass-market, regular-brand chocolate contains less than 40 percent cocoa solids. To compensate for a lack of chocolate taste, the manufacturers raise the flavor by loading up with sugar. You can feel it on your teeth once you've swallowed this unsatisfying candy.

Try instead a chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa solids. If you eat it raw, you will feel far more satisfied and want far less. If you cook with it, you won't need as much in your recipe as you would with a conventional brand.

If you eat seasonal, fresh produce, you will be choosing the most flavorful as well as the healthiest options.

Foods brimful of color, such as beetroot or sweet potatoes in season right now, are rich in antioxidants. Strawberries may gleam like gemstones. But they are only at the peak of their season between April and July, not mid-December. Grown under plastic, if they have any taste at all, much of it and the goodness in the fruit will have diminished through being picked too early so it can ripen in transit. Look for oranges, persimmons and pomegranates instead.

We all now know there are bad fats. But there are good fats, too. When we switch to skimmed milk or fat-free yogurts, we lose out on the vitamin A in the fat. Polyunsaturated fats, found mainly in oils from plants, contain essential fatty acids that can protect the heart.

We're frightened of eggs. But they provide the most complete source of protein and amino acids.

We're scared of coffee, tea and wine. Yet they're all full of antioxidants. Red wine also contains polyphenols, resveratrol and tannins that are good for us.

So for this upcoming joyful season -- and for the rest of our lives that follow -- let's stop being frightened of food.

When you set out with your shopping cart, try to make intelligent food choices that will benefit your health and the livelihoods of conscientious producers. Eat what you want -- but in moderation. And relish it. Chew it slowly enough to think about every mouthful and every individual's endeavors involved in the process of getting the meal onto your fork.

Here is a glowingly festive dish that requires little effort, contains no fat and is thoroughly satisfying.

-- Brazilian fish stew

-- Serves 10-12

-- 4 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped

-- 1 green pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped

-- 4 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

-- 2 pounds tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped

-- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

-- handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

-- ��-�� teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste

-- juice 2 limes

-- 1 pint chicken stock

-- salt to taste

-- 2 pounds firm white fish (monkfish and shark hold their shape, halibut, cod) cut in 2-inch cubes.

-- 1 pound cleaned mussels and/or clams (optional)

-- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled

-- Put the first 7 ingredients into a heavy-bottomed casserole, close with its lid and set over a low heat to simmer until everything is soft.

-- Blend in batches to a rough pur��e, then return to the cleaned pan and add the next 3 ingredients. All this can be done ahead of time.

-- When ready to serve, bring broth up to the boil and, if using, add the mussels and/or clams, replace the lid and cook them through till they have all opened, discarding those that don't.

-- Add the fish to cook through, then the shrimp, and once it is opaque, serve in warmed bowls.