“Eating is an agricultural act”
On this last day of the 2nd week of Project Peace 2019, we finish our focus on “connecting with others.” This week, I’ve highlighted the incredible artwork of India Tresselt, a fiber artist from Vermont. This past year, she created a small piece of artwork each week and titled the collection, 52 Small Meditations on Peace. Each day of this week, I’ve connected her work with a peace-related topic. Thank you India for your inspiration and capturing so many facets of peace. Consider taking the time to visit her online gallery to view more.
“Still life with peace” by India Tresselt
Connecting with others through food…
a meal shared, food given, substance to nourish, flourish and/or heal.
Where does your food come from?
How many hands did your food “pass through” to reach you?
Each morsel you eat came from somewhere…
and connects us in profound ways.
You drive to the store to purchase food… think of the individuals that made the car or bus, the families they support.
You buy the food… the employees that work at the store and the folks that transport the food.
The people that process your food in a “plant…”
The farmers that grow or raise the initial product… the grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, nuts, seeds, sugar, coffee, tea, wine, beer and hard liquor.
The web of the food system intricately connects ALL of us. Your avocados from Mexico or California, your wine from France, your oats from Scotland, your asparagus from South America. We’re all intertwined…
We drive to the grocery store to get our food, put food in the cart, pay, drive home, prepare food, eat food, repeat…
So many times we forget to marvel in our intricate involvement in this fragile system. So easily disrupted…
Food is a path to peace…
Food connects us with self, to others, and to the Earth.
Without food, there is no peace.
When we purchase our food, we have the opportunity to connect with others…
but we can take our connection one step further…
we can support our local farmers, good farming practices, our community grocers.
We can say yes to companies that treat their workers fairly and humanely. We can slow down to acknowledge those that “grew” the food.
A still life with peace… taking a moment to be “still” with our food, to connect with our food and all those involved.
My third book recommendation is the “Empires of Food. Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations.” This was the 2nd book I finished this year (February) and it’s message has profoundly impacted me. The concepts presented in this book are not new to me… they were realizations I had long ago as an undergraduate student taking a World Civilization history class. However, reading this book prompted my further exploration of the food system and the current climate conditions. While my history friends tell me the authors have taken some liberties with some of the details (although they didn’t share specifics), I still think this book is a great introduction into the delicate, interconnectedness of the food system and how we got to where we are today.
Daily peace tip #14
My dear friend, Diana Dyer, a certified organic farmer, and Registered Dietitian is one of the most inspirational and supportive people in my life. We met early in my professional career, ~2003 at a conference where she was speaking about nutrition and cancer. After her talk, I introduced myself and I’ve been highlighting her work each year in my classes ever since yet we went our separate ways until this past summer. Through serendipity, Diana and I reconnected through Instagram. She made a comment on my post, her IG name intrigued me (@the_dyer_family_organic _farm), I looked at a couple of her posts and discovered this person was a dietitian and had a farm… I wrote to her and said “are you the Diana Dyer?”
I share this story with you for two reasons…
considering reaching out to someone you haven’t been in contact with for awhile. Allow food to bring you together with others…
Diana recently shared her daily blessing with me that she says before each meal. It’s beautiful, just like her and demonstrates the main take-away that I am hoping to achieve today, connecting with those that grow our food.
“We give thanks to all hands and hearts who brought us the food for this meal.”
Where does your food come from?
Week 2 and 3 give-away
I’ll be announcing the give-away from week 2 tomorrow (Day 15). I’ll also share news of the 3rd give-away.