Eat Real Food: Valuing Food Quality

You can access an audio recording of this post here

What we put on our plate is such a reflection of our life choices. How we see the world. What we value. What we are willing to put our time and energy into.

You see, nourishing our bodies and nourishing our families is a radical act of love. It’s a devotion. It’s an act of sovereignty over our lives. The decisions we make around how we nourish our bodies and our families has a profound affect on the quality of our lives. And that of the world around us.

With it we can create health, vitality, beauty, connection, love, gratitude, joy, fulfillment.

And in the end – let me tell you – these qualities win out over all the rest.

How do we look at food? At its preparation? It’s an ongoing practice. Every day it comes back to us, to pick up again. To reflect back to us our heart space. Our focus.

Is it a difficult day? Do we feel overwhelmed? Or is there ease, flow, beauty in that moment?

So much of how we experience the act of nourishment reflects how we approach our lives.

MAKING NOURISHMENT MEANINGFUL IN OUR LIVES

It starts with the food itself. Where does it come from? How was it grown?

Who produced that food? Was it grown with gratitude and respect for the earth, and her soil? With an awareness of co-creation with her microbes and the soil food web?

Is it possible to find food grown using regenerative methods of agriculture? Where might we find that kind of food? Would the act of procuring that kind of food perhaps connect us to the living world around us? Allowing us to see our interconnection with it and our interdependence on it? Might it connect us with the seasons? With our greater community? And might it somehow better support our local economy? Might it allow us to value more deeply the very important work that it is to produce high quality food?

And might it perhaps inspire us to grow some of our own food. To start a garden, or to reconnect to the lineage of our mothers or grandmothers in growing our own food. How might that act change our lives? Change how we see the world and how we are humbled by it? How might it make us appreciate the very hard work that it is to grow good quality food?

And maybe then, when we look at the price tag for quality food we won’t flinch. We will understand its value on a much deeper level and feel great appreciation for that food. And we will make room for that in our lives.  We will understand the way that our food choices co-create our world. And what kind of world is it that we want to create?

LOCAL, SEASONAL, ORGANIC and GMO FREE

As much a possible we want to eat local and seasonal produce. And to choose foods that are grown using principles of regenerative agriculture. Find your local farmer’s markets and find the market gardeners in your area that might be providing weekly boxes of fresh vegetables throughout the growing season.

Where we are living geographically will dictate what is accessible to us throughout the different seasons. While living rurally means we might not have access to all the amenities of a larger centre, it does mean we are closer to where the food is grown. And more likely to be able to find others growing food in our community using sustainable methods. It becomes a great adventure and a great way to explore the world around us, getting to know others in our communities and getting to know the natural world around us. Surrendering to the continual ebb and flow of the seasons.

What we can’t access locally or seasonally or produced using regenerative methods of agriculture we can choose wisely and with care. We can become familiar with the ewg.org lists of the “dirty dozen” and “clean fifteen” to understand what some of our better choices are https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php

We might start a buying club with our community or figure out what and where we can buy in bulk to store the surplus or share with friends.

We can get to know local farmers that are selling their meat and animal foods directly to the public.  We might choose to purchase meat in bulk.  We can learn about methods of agriculture so we can figure out our best choices. Are there farmers in your area that are raising animals without feeding them GMO crops of soy and corn? Are they fed organic or perhaps identity preserved grains? Which farmers are pasturing their chickens and pigs? Are there farmers in your area producing grass-fed lamb or beef? Are they feeding their animals only grass and hay? Or perhaps you know a beef farmer feeding only grass, hay and barley?

WHY GMO FREE?

There are many reasons to support methods of agriculture that minimize the use of GMO’s, pesticides and destructive chemicals. We CAN grow food that builds soil health and produces highest quality, nutrient dense foods with good yields. This is important not only for long term sustainability of the farmland that produces our food, but also integral to the issues of soil carbon sequestration, and long term health of the microbiome of life itself. Your body’s microbiome is intrinsically linked to that of the soil and the world at large. We need to understand the cyclical interdependence of living organisms and the life of the soil in order to grow highest quality food and ensure the health and viability of the land growing that food for generations to come.

A FEW NOTES

To gain more of an appreciation of farming, I highly recommend Wendell Berry’s book Bringing it to the Table. Many of Wendell Berry’s writings have been influential to my understanding of and appreciation for agriculture.

The most influential mentor for me in my appreciation of the earth and agriculture is Vandana Shiva. In the inspiring documentary The Seeds of Vanada Shiva, you can learn more about her work.

To learn more about the Soil Food Web see Elaine Ingham’s work