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| Good Cheer garden |
This weekend I went to a reading by a well-known author from
her new book about food. It’s based on a
one month experiment of only eating food that is available within 10 miles of
her house. The biggest impact that it
had on her was an appreciation for what’s involved in feeding people and how
much more gratifying it can be to actually develop a relationship with the
people who provide your food.
The event took place outside on a sunny Friday evening at a
local coffee house that is a community hub in the seaside village of
Langley. It is run by volunteers and
students who get training and school credit for participating. The ongoing events and presentations about a
huge variety of topics are free to the public; they just ask that you come a
bit early to buy a coffee or snack to support the work of the “Commons”. This is very typical of Whidbey Island -
community, inclusiveness and generosity.
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| Good Cheer garden/greenhouse |
South Whidbey has a local “Good Cheer” food bank. It is an extraordinarily successful operation
for such a small community, providing food and basic supplies for 860 families
a month. The facility is set up just
like a grocery store - customers take their cart and choose from a huge supply
of items which are either donated or bought with proceeds from the Good Cheer
thrift stores. Instead of $, the
currency is points that customers are given for their family for the month, and
even though it doesn’t get more real than the food bank, there is something unreal
about how they handle their food.
The place
has its own, huge garden overflowing with fresh vegetables that are beautifully
presented in the refrigerators at the magic grocery store. There is one big difference though - unlike
the “real” world, the higher the nutritional value of the food, the “cheaper”
it is. So a bag of fresh, organic
vegetables costs one point, whereas a box of hamburger helper or other
processed food would use up 5 points.
So while the food bank is providing sustenance and support
to the community, they are also focused on the bigger picture of how the food
balance has tipped so much in the wrong direction; where processed, genetically
modified so-called food is the “treat” to be indulged in once in a while and
the fresh, healthy “real” food is the cornerstone of your family’s health and
well-being.
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| view over the Good Cheer garden |
I wonder about the proliferation of food and cooking shows
in a country that no longer requires people to know how to cook as a basic survival
skill. It’s as if cooking has suddenly
become this elite, special thing that is a hobby rather than something you do
because you’re human and you need to eat.
The part that gets lost is community, the coming together for food and
sustenance and companionship. Many families
in the USA only share one meal together a year – Thanksgiving dinner. My naïve hope is that they all turn their TV
off while they eat it!
Thanks for listening…
Rosie
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