This is a new limitation I`m experiencing in my SALT year. I`m living in a small rural community that doesn`t warrant enough attention of supermarket chains for them to open up a Walmart or even the smaller Despensa Familiar that you see in bigger cities. I have to travel at least two hours if I want to access shiny aisles filled with whatever my stomach can dream up. Here in Sibinal, what appears in the Thursday street market is what`s in season, and that`s that. Poor us, right? I`m starting to think not.
It wasn´t that long ago that people in the States ate with the seasons too, that the perishables one ate were brought in from surrounding farms only a couple days before sale. The thing is, our perishables now are not so perishable, thanks to preservation and maturation chemicals and petroleum wax.
Our grocery shopping used to support our neighbors, and now it benefits big businesses that give us the prices we like, nevermind the added chemicals, watered-down taste, or the hidden price tag of oil consumption. Is the convenience of an air-conditioned shopping experience really going to trump my nutrition or my solidarity with my community?
Last week I stocked up on apples for the first time in months. How did I find out that apples were back the very week they were back? My apple guy. His name is Elisandro and I buy my apples from him. I know the guy who grew the stuff I`m eating! Crazy, right? It shouldn`t be. On my end, it just makes sense that I would buy from someone I know, from a guy I can chat up and ask what exactly he puts on these apple trees to make them grow. On his end, he has the connection with me that motivates him to produce quality (perhaps over quantity), and knowing that I buy his apples gives a bit of security to him as well.
What`s more, ask me how excited I was to see heaps of plums in the market today. SUPER EXCITED. I immediately ran (okay, maybe I speedwalked) home, dropped those things into a pot of clean water, and popped one into my mouth, eyes crossing as I made a couple embarrassing noises. I fully appreciate this thing God brought up out of the ground and into my stomach. Do you see anyone showing that appreciation to a supermarket plum, apple or peach? How about fruit like pineapple, mango, and kiwi, which don`t grow in most parts of the U.S., yet are pretty much always stocked in stores?
In my experience, I grew up basically ignorant of how the veggies and fruit that ended up on my plate came to be, when they were harvested, where they came from, and even what part of a plant they actually were (root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit). My simplified story of the carrot was that I walked into Meijer, it was lying next to the broccoli, and I brought it home. Sad. Embarrassing. I can do better.
I plan to do better. One of the most concrete changes in my time here has been my understanding of food justice, with a reconnection of myself to the natural world that sustains me. It`s so basic, but I have missed it for most my life. When I`m back in the states, I WILL know where my food comes from. I will make choices based on this knowledge. This means that I will seek out farmers markets and make weekly trips to buy the fruit and vegetable part of my diet, at the very least. I hope to someday have a garden, and perhaps even find out where I can buy local bread, cheese, yogurt, and milk. I want to cook beautiful, vibrantly-colored meals from scratch in my kitchen, (next to my husband, an Italian model and a massage therapist, of course).
As always, I have a bunch of ideas, and I´m serious about all of them......except the Italian model. What remains to be seen is whether I´ll follow through on them. Luckily for me, I have a blog and friends that read it. With this public declaration of some goals, I hope to have some accountability from you all. So please, when you see me again in the States, ask me how this is going. Give me a kick in the pants if I need it. Thank you all in advance. :)
"Our culture is not unacquainted with the idea of food as a spiritually loaded commodity. We're just particular about which spiritual arguments we'll accept as valid for declining certain foods. Generally unacceptable reasons: environmental destruction, energy waste, the poisoning of workers. Acceptable: it's prohibited by a holy text. Set down a platter of country ham in front of a rabbi, an imam, and a Buddhist monk, and you may have just conjured three different visions of damnation. Guests with high blood pressure may add a fourth. Is it such a stretch, then to make moral choices about food based on the global consequences of its production and transport?"
-Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (a really good book about this stuff)
I will be asking, chica.
ReplyDelete