I’ve had the thought that I need to reassess how I’m approaching my sustainability goals. I want to look at one aspect of my life style each month and see how I can make it more sustainable. I decided to start with food It’s the easiest for me and since I’m reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, it seemed an appropriate place to start.
Last weekend I cleaned my refrigerator and considered the contents of my pantry. I was happy to see that over 85% of what I have is local or bulk (wet and dry) and organic. The other 15% is organic but not local. There are some things in this mix that I won’t replace when I run out (catsup for example), but there are a few things that I think I will continue to get: the occasional citrus or avocado from California (as close as I can get); balsamic vinegar, olives (sometimes can get bulk), and shortening. Also Italian cheeses (Parmesan to be precise)-but I’m going to get that from the deli where they don’t wrap it in plastic. Six items that are on the not local list, but six things that are worth it to me on a cultural level.
Regarding my reading, I think I’ve read my favorite chapter yet in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, “Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast.” What did I find thought provoking?
“Cooking is a dying art in this country.” This scares me because I think it is true on a societal level. All that has to be considered is the amount of restaurants and fast foods there are to know that people don’t cook as much any more. All that has to be considered is the lack of time at the end of the day that so many people have for all that they want to do or have to do and it becomes easy to give in to the seduction of prepared food.
"Approaching mealtimes as a creative opportunity, rather than a chore, is an option."
I love her discussion on the process and importance of cooking and of eating together. I do believe that cooking is a creative process. One of my favorite things to do is to start with a few ingredients and toss things together. And I do believe that it can be fast, healthy and creative, even on a weeknight.
Like many people I know who enjoy cooking, and as Kingsolver describes her own process being, I do save more involved recipes for weekends. And I do make an effort to make enough that I can save what I cook for the rest of the week. That’s one reason why the environmental experiment of living without a refrigerator or freezer doesn’t really work for me. I want to be able to stock up for the week ahead or put that extra serving of split pea soup in the freezer for 2 weeks from now.
I also appreciated her comments on family meals. This was a huge part of my childhood. We almost always ate together. And I think it forms a core piece of what I consider a family and a community- a group of people who sit down together on a regular basis to eat together.
And then there was the discussion on cheese making. This made me smile. I really could identify with her passage on the magic of watching the curds and whey separate. I could also identify with her comment about sharing cheese-making experiments with grandma and then coming to find out that grandma had stories of making cheese at home too. And while it made me smile, it also brings home again how disconnected we are with our food. Making cheese, yogurt, bread, sausage, raisins, wine, crackers, and whatever else we can think of at home shouldn’t be such a mysterious process. And yes, I did have a “Hey I can make my own crackers!” discovery at home.
Time to go make yogurt and plot my next steps!
A response to the Inspire Me Thursday journal prompt. This is an altered picture of a chickadee that I took. My parents have a bird feeder right outside their kitchen window. It is so amazing to sit right in front of the window and be a foot from a bird, separated by glass and a window screen.
