Double Takes
Reconnecting with Real Food
"Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie." — Astrid Alauda
"Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn." — Garrison Keillor
Food is perhaps the most immediate and tangible reminder of our connection to the Earth. We all eat, and everything we put into our mouths begins with a fragile negotiation between the elements — water and sunlight, mostly — and a tender shoot of life looking to grow.
For most of human history, that connection was part of everyday life, in the animals we hunted, fished and raised, and the plants we gathered and grew.
But the industrialization of food has changed that for most of us. The processing, packaging and marketing of what we eat has in many ways severed that age-old connection. But now, there's a growing global movement to re-establish that bond.
Take author Barbara Kingsolver, who spent a year growing her own food in southern Virginia and chronicled her experiences in the best-selling Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. She spoke recently with Speaking of Faith host Krista Tippett.
Kingsolver's return to the farm lays bare some of the quandaries of modern American life: Where does our food come from? Is it really nourishing, and what are the environmental consequences of our choices? What is the true cost of the energy and resources needed to grow, process, and distribute the food we blithely throw into our shopping carts?
As Kingsolver tells Tippett, her Quixotic year-long experiment in eating led to some revealing conclusions. "So much of our food travels great distances to reach us [...] — while at the same time, we're turning our backs on the farmers who may be struggling to survive in our own region.
"Sometimes you have to push yourself into a new way of thinking," Kingsolver said. "There's this enormous comfort in belonging to a cycle, and seeing food not as a product or a process."
Kingsolver isn't alone — followers of the Slow Food movement are transforming the way more and more people around the world eat. They are striving to buy locally or grow their own food and prepare meals from scratch using only natural ingredients.
Perhaps by reconnecting with the sources of our food, we can have a greater appreciation of the Earth in balance.
Digging Into the Archives:
• Oct. 8, 2002 : Minnesota Public Radio: Slow Food slow to catch on
• Dec. 27, 2005 : Minnesota Public Radio: Local food touted as healthy alternative
• Aug. 14, 2006: Minnesota Public Radio: Localvores and 'the hunger for connection'
Posted by: David Banks, Sustainability Web Producer
