I read the food journalism of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser for years, and considered myself someone who cared about the production and distribution of food. I strove to be aware of how meals found their way to my plate, and learned a little more about cooking each year.
But last summer, I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and my devotion to these matters increased tenfold. Kingsolver’s book, which is about the year her family spent eating only what they could grow, supplemented by items made in the county they live in, kept me up nights. And it immediately changed my behavior.
I spent endless weekend hours digging up sod and planting my first garden. When most of it failed, I began learning more about what kinds of foods I can successfully grow at an altitude of 7000+ feet.
I scoured our farmer’s market most every Saturday during our short summer season.
I began buying (affordable) chicken from a woman who can track where it comes from and how it is raised, and (affordable) beef from a rancher who lives a few miles to the east and is very particular about his cattle.
I’ve also begun using food scraps to make my own stock, and/or to compost. I’ve learned other basics like pasta and pizza dough. We’re eating more naturally all the time. We’re not rich and can’t afford to buy our way to ethical, nutritious eating at Whole Foods. But that’s a blessing–living on a budget forces us to be careful, to learn slowly, to be resourceful, and to actually change.
This year, I plan to learn and do more. I’m giving myself a long leash in this area because of other demands, but I do want to make gradual improvements in 2009. I’ve found a seed supplier who specializes in fruits, vegetables, and herbs that do well at high altitudes; I’ll use those seeds instead of relying on whatever transplants I can find at Home Depot. I’ll greatly vary what I plant–did you know there are hundreds of varieties of lettuce? dozens of cucumber?–and extend my garden area even more. We still rely on the convenience of fast food joints from time to time, and I hope we’ll do that less and less. (Five Guys and Chick-fil-A are relatively guilt-free exceptions.) We’ll either join a CSA farm or learn how to stretch our farmer’s market dollars even further–anyone have practice at keeping perishable foods?
Eating has become an area of life that so clearly combines the spiritual and the material. It also combines the individual (silent hours spent cooking or digging in dirt) with the communal. I don’t know how I missed these combinations for so many years, but I did. I’m grateful to be living with them now.
How about you, reader? Any thoughts on how you plan to approach food in this new year?
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