by Nikko Snyder (with files from Erin Laing)
THE SASQUATCH
March/April 2010
(Vol II No. 2)

This issue’s column was originally going to be about sprouts—how to grow tiny, nutrient-rich green things in a jar during the final weeks of the long Saskatchewan winter, before the spinach, chives, rhubarb and asparagus begin to peek their heads out of the softening soil.

But the fact that this is my last opportunity to communicate with you, dear readers, makes my job feel urgent. I have one last chance to tell you something about food that sums up how central an issue it is. So what will it be?

It won’t be instructions on growing sprouts, making yogurt, or keeping chickens. If I can suggest only one thing, it is to talk to your neighbours.

Our society encourages us to live in isolation from one another. As a culture, we drive from our houses to our places of work, then to the grocery store and back home again. We take little time to talk to each other, especially people we don’t already know.

Our isolation chips away at our capacity to live in community: to live connected to one another, to the places we live and to the land that sustains us. We share less — fewer values and fewer resources. And as our connections decrease and our divisions increase, we forget what we once knew about the benefits of being accountable to our neighbours and to the planet.

If there is a single thing I would urge you to struggle against it is this division — the separation from your neighbour, your soil, your watershed.

Food is a simple and deeply powerful way to engage in this struggle. Growing food undermines isolation. It forces us to go outside and have a relationship with the earth, while creating opportunities for learning, teaching and sharing. Cooking and eating food together connects us across differences and creates opportunities for conversation and the sharing of ideas.

Food can also be a bridge across virtually any other issue. If you work towards ending poverty or war, then equitable access to food for all is a no-brainer. If you’re an environmentalist, sustainably managing the caloric needs of ballooning numbers of humans on finite planetary resources is a must. If anti-racism or anti-imperialism turns your crank, then understanding who has (or doesn’t have) access to the world’s resources is fundamental. If you’re a feminist or health activist, the relationship of food to healthy bodies and minds is key.

If you’re grappling with one or more of these issues, food can be an empowering and tangible way to make connections both within yourself and with the people around you. I recently heard food activist Wayne Roberts speak about what he termed “the 1,000 points of food.” The food movement, he argued, needs to be one of dialogue – not either/or – because people come to food issues from so many different perspectives. At the same time, food represents a universal need we all share. It creates unlimited potential to bridge people who have been separated. All we need to do is grow, cook and eat together.

Recipe for mindful eating

This recipe is a list of suggested ingredients/actions that use food as the basis for cooking up social change. Try them on their own or in combination. Pay attention to which ones work well together and add new elements or flavours as desired. Try, observe, reflect, evaluate, reformulate and try again! And most importantly, enjoy!

• Dig into the deepest corner of your cupboard, fridge or freezer, and discover food you forgot you had. Reflect on what a luxury it is to be able to forget you have extra food! Use the most surprising ingredient as the basis for a meal.
• Season permitting, go out into your garden and find the ripest, most beautiful vegetable you can. Delight in the perfection! Then go find the most misshapen, funny looking vegetable in the garden. Marvel at the diversity of nature and the opportunity to utilize food that the industrial food system would throw away. Use both to make a meal.
• Use what you have on hand to make a meal. Make something up, or flip through a recipe book for inspiration. Try combining ingredients you’ve never used together. Generate some curiosity about the possibility of new flavours. Turn on your inner artist!
• Instead of driving to the store to pick up that missing ingredient (and whatever other dozen items you probably don’t really need), substitute it with something you have on hand. Better yet, pick up your phone and call a neighbour for that missing egg or cup of flour! You could even go so far as to invite them over to share the meal with you.
• Cooking alone? Put on the radio or a CD and have a dance party! Cooking together? Have a conversation. Either way, cooking is an opportunity for quality time with yourself or a loved one.
• Cook a little extra food. Save it for tomorrow’s lunch, or share it with a friend or neighbour. You could even find out the requirements of your local soup kitchen and take several servings to them.
• If you’re cooking with meat, trying using half of what the recipe calls for or what you usually use. Pay attention to how flavourful meat is and how far a little can go. It takes a lot of land to raise a cow, so make it last!
• When the meal is ready to eat, dish out about half the quantity you think you want. Think about how it feels to have access to more food than you need to survive and be healthy. Wait several minutes after finishing your helping before deciding if you’re still hungry. If you are, enjoy a small second helping.
• Before you start eating, spend a moment in silence. Try to imagine the collaboration that took place in order for you to eat: the sun and water and soil that worked to grow the food, the humans that worked with the land, the animals that gave their lives. Generate gratitude.
• If you’re eating alone, try not to distract yourself with other activities. Focus on the experience of being nourished — on the wonderful tastes, textures and colours of the food. It doesn’t take long to eat. Email, reading, working, etc., can wait a few minutes.
• If you’re eating with family and friends, enjoy the food and the companionship. Talk about where your food came from, how it tastes, the things that you’re learning and the things you are grateful for.

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