4/5/2012 I can scarcely wait for the start of the farmers’ market season. In the meantime, we just received our first spring chevre and fresh eggs from our friends at the Tieton Creamery. They will have a booth this year at the Thursday Bellevue Farmers Market (shameless plug!). To find other farmers markets in our area, visit www.pugetsoundfresh.org
8/29/2011 The “Chef’s Surprise” brunch was a great success with a gigantic vegetable salad of greens, carrots, tomatoes, red runner beans and more. Plus crostini with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil; hard-boiled eggs from pasture-raised chickens; zucchini bread from home-grown zucchini; pickled beets from an old family recipe; and nectarines and blueberries from the local farmers market. Yum!
REFLECTIONS ON FOOD (Taize service, August 2011)
“The Pleasures of Eating” by Wendell Berry[1]
I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act.
Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as “consumers.”
…How does one escape this trap? Only voluntarily, the same way that one went in: by restoring one’s consciousness of what is involved in eating; by reclaiming responsibility for one’s own part in the food economy.
…Eating with the fullest pleasure — pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance– is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend. When I think of the meaning of food, I always remember these lines by the poet William Carlos Williams, which seem to me merely honest:
There is nothing to eat,
seek it where you will,
but the body of the Lord.
The blessed plants
and the sea, yield it
to the imagination
intact.
[1] From What Are People For? By Wendell Berry, North Point Press, 1990
LUKE 24: 19-24
When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them say, “It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?”
They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, “the Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognized him at the breaking of bread.
PRAYER
O God, we thank you for life, for breath, and for all the blessings you pour upon us. We praise you for the goodness of all of creation, for farmers and farm land, for grocers and vegetables, for animals and earth, for all that you have made and called good.
We pray today for farm workers whose lives and health are in peril from toxic pesticides and hazardous working conditions.
For those who labor in the farm fields so that all may be nourished.
For rural communities who provide food for our tables and who struggle with economic adversity and the loss of family farms.
For the healing of the land, water, and air and for our commitment to act as good stewards of your creation.
For the wisdom to use the abundance of your Earth for your glory and for the good of all.[1]
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, we pray for wisdom and ask for humility in the face of creation’s complexity; we pray that all creatures may share in Earth’s bounty; we pray that all will be fed.[2]
For my Lenten practice this year, I plan to eat vegan (no meat or other animal products) one day a week. I realize that real vegans will think this is a pretty low standard, but I think it is a realistic starting point for me. I will be reporting here as to how I’m doing, and would love to receive fabulous, but not-too-complex vegan recipes–just send as a comment.
Ash Wednesday: breakfast–toast w/ peanut butter and jam; lunch: hummus w/ crackers and an orange; dinner: pasta w/ black beans, tomatoes and other chopped veggies, spinach sauteed w/ mushrooms and garlic. Evening snack: organic dark chocolate (contains cocoa butter, not milk products)
2/22 breakfast–banana (eek! this bread contains milk products, no toast today); lunch–pasta and bean casserole, tangerines, peppermint candy; dinner–acorn squash stuffed with apples, shallot and pecans, spinach w/ mushrooms and garlic, rosemary crackers; snack: dark chocolate.
3/1 breakfast–toast w/ peanut butter and jam; lunch– tomato/pasta soup, crackers, orange; dinner–curried sweet potatoes with raisins and garbanzo beans (much better than it sounds!), green salad with vegies, roll; snack–crackers and hummus
What I’ve learned so far: *Plan ahead *Read the labels *Just because it doesn’t contain animal products, doesn’t mean it’s good for you (i.e., processed food with multi-syllabic ingredients *Cats are not impressed with vegan eating.
3/11 breakfast–toast with jam (rats! I bought almond milk to go with cereal, then realized my cereal contains honey); lunch–hummus, crackers, fruit; dinner–bean and tomato soup, tortilla chips, vegie salad; snack–organic dark chocolate.
3/17 breakfast–toast with peanut butter; lunch–bean soup, crackers, fruit; dinner–”vegie jambalaya” (rice, beans, celery, tomatoes, onions, spices); tortilla chips, fruit salad; snack–dark chocolate.
After 5 weeks, I’ve pretty much gone through my repertoire of vegan cooking. Bring on the vegie burgers!
3/25 breakfast–toast & peanut butter; lunch–split pea soup, crackers, fruit; dinner–”crockpot ratatouille” (eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, etc.) with brown rice, fruit salad. snack–peanuts
3/31 breakfast–cinnamon-raisin bagel; lunch–miso-noodle soup, crackers, fruit; dinner–spaghetti w/ “meat” sauce made with vegie burgers, fruit salad; snack–dark chocolate
Eating vegan one day a week proved to be quite do-able as long as I planned ahead. I did not feel deprived; in fact I probably ate better on these days than on some other occasions. Would I do this again as a Lenten practice? The greater discipline for me has been posting my menus and blogging about voluntary simplicity. In this sense, abstinence from animal products, however briefly, did cause me to make room for something more positive.
If you’ve read this far, you might be interested in knowing that there is a new adult group at the church called “Healthy Spirit-Filled Living.” They meet for about 15 minutes Sundays at 945AM to check in and report on the goals they’ve set for the week. They also keep in touch by e-mail. If you attend First UMC, you might want to look into this group.
