Making Meanings

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Making Meanings –
Thu 3 Sep 2009 10:22pm
Last year I read the books. Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and the Lappés’ Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. I even tried a recipe or two and, for this “I hate to cook” cook, they turned out all right.

This year I walked the talk. I decided to take a CSA share (Community Supported Agriculture). I’d actually taken one a few years ago, but I always had to throw away veggies we didn’t eat. It felt like a waste of money. So it felt a little financially foolish to try again. Until my epiphany: it’s not just about our household’s vegetable budget; it’s about our family investing in local agriculture. Not only does my family get local veggies, but we support the team that grows them – the family that lives not so very far away. Not only can we feed ourselves, but we can share what we get with our grown kids and our friends.

You need to know that I’m one of those people who used to say “lips that touch beets never touch mine!” And that went for beet greens, swiss chard, kale (isn’t that an ornamental thingy), turnips, parsnips and much, much more. Then came the next revelation – these things can taste really good (OK, I’m not sure about the turnips and parsnips yet).

So next I challenged myself to find ways to use every vegetable we received, even the ones I was sure I did not like! Imagine me picking up my small (they call it small, anyway) box of veggies and coming home each week to find it overflowing with beets and their greens, swiss chard (with various colors of stems), and kale (really, a LOT of kale). Oh, and did I mention that was mostly what we got for those first, many cold and rainy weeks of summer!

Well I went to my cookbooks. (First, I had to dust them, they hadn’t been touched in years). Each week I’d make a list for each vegetable. Moosewood’s cold buttermilk borscht. Vegetarian Epicure’s Chłodnik. Scarlet Salad (beets and red cabbage) from a little book called Learning to Eat Locally and, the pièce de resistance: roasted beets with potatoes, chevre, and arugula. Yum, that one was the hit of the summer!

Now I have the beginnings of my own cookbook filled with recipes we’ve tried and liked. Everything from Arugula to Zucchini. Who would have thought that we’d have tried eight kale recipes, or braised fennel, or Swiss Chard Pie? Who would have dreamed I have yet NOT to like a single one of them! Who would have believed that there were rarely veggies to give away?

Eating locally and eating well has become my spiritual discipline for the summer. Everything about it “feeds” my spirit as well as my body. Monday I pick up the veggies and then, with the reverence I’d usually reserve for meditation or prayer, I’d sort and wash and store each vegetable. Then I’d plan the week’s menus. Each day, something different, something delicious.

In the process I rediscovered cooking and the joy of eating truly fresh food. It’s a good mental and, sometimes, even physical workout. The food is delicious and I haven’t felt this good in years.

Not only was I proud of the meal on the table, I was proud of making a commitment to live more consistently with my values. And, along with paying attention to what matters, I’ve discovered that my summer “spiritual practice” has also raised some provocative questions: Am I using more resources – water, electricity? What will I do when the fresh veggies and fruit stop coming? Can I keep up this practice when I have evening meetings four nights a week?

So there you have it. That’s what I did on my summer vacation. I had a conversion experience and now I’m an evangelist. How about you?

Can’t wait to see you soon. Until then, eat well, eat locally!

Katie Lee