by Terra Wellington
I recently attended a foodie culture event. The eclectic, attentive crowd got an entertaining kick listening to stories about three-year-old European beets delicacies and food theatrics using Gorgonzola volleyballs. But in spite of the out-there cuisine curiosities, the highbrow conversation continually circled back to family, conversation, sustainability, relationships, and the soul of food.
Even though I grew up as a meat-and-potatoes girl eating typical Western pioneer fare, the joy of seasonal is in my veins. There were always unlimited tomatoes from the garden come August and September, as well as boxes of fruit my mother would collect from downstate each fall. I have many memories of bottling fruit up for the winter and enjoying delicious, wholesome food months later.
Somehow this childhood relationship with food was lost in my 20’s – I don’t know what happened. But a move to California changed all that.
Maybe it was the sun, the engagement with the outdoors, or maybe it was just the artsy crowd I ran with. But, within a few months, I got hooked on going to my farmers market every week. I kept returning, initially, because the food just tasted better; later, because I wholeheartedly grasped the larger vision of regional farming, organics, and what that meant for my family, my children, and my community.
Lately, I feel like I’m coming full circle. An organic apple that had a little bug bite brought back memories of eating pears when I was three. Thank heavens there are a few bugs where my apples and pears have come from – it means there’s some living ecology on that farm.
This winter’s organic, three-legged carrots have swept me up into thoughts of fall backyard harvest when I was 10 – every veggie I picked or pulled was unique. My husband and I love buying up those one-of-a-kind veggies just to prove a point to our kids that real food is fun and showcases nature’s beauty.
I’ve watched the care farmers take in showing off their product at the market booth, like they’re selling off their protected babies. And that mindfulness, in turn, makes me want to care too. I can return to the grower the next week and give a compliment that will matter, ask any questions with immediate answers, and learn about what foods are coming up on a yearly cycle.
I’m proud to say that my food isn’t just a functional part of my life or just a delicacy. Rather, my food has soul — rooted in the changing seasons, drawing from nearby dirt, and is connected to me through a community story.
Here are some tips on bringing soul to your dinner plate:
- Look for story goodness: Anytime you can learn about the story of your food, and have that story rooted in a sustainable practice, it’s worth talking about in the kitchen and at the dinner table. Story enriches the food experience and gives soul to your food. Goodness is found in regionality, seasonality, organics, your own backyard garden, and small farmer relationships.
- Cherish uniqueness: If your food is distinctive because of look, taste, variety, harvest cycle its picked in, or regional characteristics/availability – these are all ways you can ignite conversation about what you eat and infuse soul into your food.
- Develop seasonal traditions: Make it a tradition to buy seasonal food so that your food is connected with a year-long cycle of life. This not only breaks up the eating-rut monotony but also adds specialness to what you eat and forces you to try new tastes and combinations. When you add emotional value and memories to your food, you create traditions that can span generations.
A little more about Terra: Given her enthusiasm for wellness and lifestyle topics, Terra Wellington has been a popular guest on such programs as Chicago’s WGN, The Daily Buzz, The Montel Williams Show, WCBS’ This Morning, and also at Martha Stewart Radio. For Earth Day 2009, St. Martin’s Press released her much-publicized book, “The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home.” Terra is the former wellness editor of Fit Body and Real and has contributed to Los Angeles Family Magazine, DietsinReview.com, FocusOrganic.com, TheGreenParent.com, and Aisle7’s syndicated healthy living content. Plus, she’s an actress and mom. More at www.terrawellington.com.
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And all of these things change how we act inside our everyday existence. When an enterprise deal declines through, we will not take the idea as difficult. When an individual cuts us all off out of the office, we laugh as opposed to yell. When we have an time between appointments, we stop and take in air into our bellies and luxuriate in simply getting, rather than playing video games.
As empty nesters,my husband and I like to keep our eating simple. We have found that eating good organic cheese, fruit, and rustic bread is more satisfying than the best gourmet meal. It is in the flavor of the food which brings enjoyment, it is in the shopping for it, it is in the cutting up of the fruit and the breaking apart of the crusty bread that makes your mouth water in anticipation of the taste that bring soul to the table. Lingering over the table with talk of our day apart from eachother brings us closer to eachother. And that is how we add soul to our food.
I enjoyed reading all the posts. When we were growing up, we had fresh vegetables grown without chemicals – a few coffee grounds, egg shells, etc. – but, like Cindy said, it wasn’t called “organic”! It was called gardening or farming *naturally*!
With more people having more children, there are so many more people in the world to feed, and farmers have to produce more food – thus companies use chemicals to keep the bugs away – thus poisoning people.
It must stop! Monsanto needs to be put out of business. We need to live without chemicals in our foods, or we will be a physically crippled mankind.
Now, I’ll get off my soapbox!
I was raised on organic food. It wasn’t called organic then. It was called “you kids need to water (got buckets of water to take to the garden), hoe, pick the bugs off leaves and pick the vegetables and/or fruit” so we could have something to eat. When there was extra, which there always was, we would all work on canning or freezing. The corn,alfalfa, wheat and/or soybeans were planted without the artificial fertilizer. My dad used a manure spreader to add nutrients back into the ground and always rotated his crops. We bailed hay to feed the cattle alond with bailing straw for the cattle to sleep on which was replaced with fresh straw and the older stuff thrown out along with the manure. The cattle ate the crops we produced. Nothing was artificial. At that time it wasn’t called organic. It was called farming. Yes the memories.
I’m certainly glad to be one of the many consuming the right and goodness of the food and milk. Planting organic food and eating them makes me healthy.
During summer vacations and holidays, my two brothers and I lived on my grandfathers farm, “Candido Farms” in Saratoga. We drank whole, unpasteurized milk and ate eggs and produce and chicken, rabbit and an occasional piece of veal, all grown on the farm. Even the bread was homemade. Non of us ever got sick, and we we attribute our health to his totally organic farm, the fertilizer came from the farm animals, and the well water was from high up on his property; it was extremely ‘hard’ water, but free of harmful chemicals. He made his own wine and vinegar every year, but he supplemented his grapes with boxes of a California grape, the name escapes me. We all fondly reminisce and often take a one day trip to say hello to our old neighbors, and roam our old stomping grounds. Our old farmer neighbors, who, sadly are diminishing in number, their offspring strangers to us and we to them. He even raised his own tobacco, although only he would smoke it in his ancient smelly pipe. When he died in 1953, all mourned him. Even today, people by Staffords Bridge remember him. It was a good life, never to be replicated again, his secrets went with him and my uncles, all deceased, never took up where he left off, ultimately selling the farm for a pittance.
[...] Wellington on The Buzz – Fresh News, Musings and Insights from Stoneyfield Farm. In “How to Bring Soul to Your Food” Terra relates beautifully how food is her connection to history, memories and community. [...]
I would love to read this series.
Great post!
One of the reasons that the “Mediterranean Diet” is so healthy is because people in that region understand the importance of taking time to enjoy meals in a leisurely fashion with people you care about.
[...] Terra guest blogs at IWillKnowMyFood.com about how her local farmers market helped her reconnect with the fresh foods of her childhood, along with tips on how you can bring soul to your own meals, by connecting with your food in a new and fresh way [...]
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