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Thinking Differently About Food

Posted at 9:23 PM on February 27, 2008 by Donna McClurkan (3 Comments)

Two months into our eat-local adventure, I have come to view food very differently.

All I remember about my last big supermarket shopping trip before we started eating locally is a feeling of deep sadness. Meandering through aisles of bounty, packaging, bulk, and so many options – all of it seemed like monumental reminders of everything we were preparing to give up. Today I would say the gains far outweigh the losses.

Supermarket shopping today is very different. I buy just what is needed to supplement our locally sourced food. The pineapple in Craving Fruit has come to be considered a treat rather than an entitlement. Today, we grocery shop in a different way and the bounty and options we are privileged to enjoy are found in our CSA share, area farms, orchards and markets.

My ideas about beauty have changed. I almost never discard vegetables and fruit beyond their prime. Those wrinkled, spotted and blemished apples? No problem. Into the pot they go for the tastiest, chunkiest, sweetest applesauce we’ve ever had.

Here’s another thing I’ve learned about food - generosity abounds. We've received wonderful and tasty gifts, starting in early winter when a neighbor gave us a beautiful, orange and green squash from the Kalamazoo Farmers’ Market she purchased just before it closed for the season. Preserves, canned peaches, salsas, buckwheat starter … the list of food gifts from folks helping us make it through winter is very long. And with each gift, there is a story. Everyone, it seems, has a food story to share.

Michael Pollan encourages us to think about food as less of a thing and more of a relationship. I’m beginning to understand and appreciate what he means.

Comments (3)

Donna, I think you've hit the nail on the head with the phrase "a treat rather than an entitlement." This is essentially the change in mindset that must take place in order to promote the use of local seasonal foods and, ultimately, to achieve sustainability in our food supply. I think the world would be a better place if people in temperate climates didn't assume they should be able to buy strawberries in January.

Posted by Autumn Long | February 28, 2008 10:49 AM

There are so many insightful thoughts in this post; you are so articulate.

I thought of your comment about 'produce with blemishes' today as I watched shoppers in the supermarket paw through the grapes. They turn a bag full of grapes upside down to empty it, pick out only the flawless bunches, then reach for the next bag to empty it and find another faultless bunch to add to their bag. Only perfect grapes need apply, all the rejects are pushed off to the side.

In the meantime, so much of their shopping cart was full of processed & junk food:)!

Good reading-
Molly

Posted by Molly Ettwein | February 28, 2008 8:06 PM

Donna,

Saw you at the Organic Conference in E. Lansing today. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Just finished reading a book similar in nature, can't remember the name of course. This website is most interesting will pass it on to everyone I know. thanks again. Lisa Brown, Paradise Farms, Brooklyn, Michigan

Posted by Lisa Brown | March 1, 2008 6:06 PM