Maybe not so simple. In the years between Mom teaching me
and me teaching my children the world has spun around several times. Food
designs are a dominant issue with Americans and maybe all cultures. It is more
than sustenance or even hunger, it is art and recreation, it is a measure of
economic status, it is cultural identity. When we say, you are what you eat, we
are not just referring to fat levels and vitamins. We really mean you and I are what we eat.
Before the crunchy granola era of my life, I relied more on
crutches within my balanced “threes” – a quick premixed basic for such things
as biscuits and quick bread, ground meats and bacon, and greens poured out of cans
to be heated on the stove. It was a matter of confidence or lack thereof. Fear
of failure drove our meals to the aisle of mediocrity.
Then came the first wave of “whole foods” for whole
bodies all linked to the awareness of corporate food dominance over our meager
meal dollars. Since then we have been in a vigorous race between mass
production and personal charge of food gathering. On one side is production for
masses (and the masses’ money) that includes an array of development issues –
packaging, uniformity, transportation, distribution, volume both of product and
of sales, often with an equal array of deep issues including animal care and
overdose chemistry.
On the other side are such things as beautiful
photography of food, a dozen or more television how-to cooking shows presenting
not only fresh foods but glorious combinations of world cultures with unique
crops tantalizing our very dreams.
When crunchy granola came along we did not have access to
the television or the fresh food stores, we had to bravely learn the specifics
of making our own bread and cereal and grow/preserve our own vegetables and
fruits. And for protein, we city kids had to face the deepest of all issues: taking the very life of the animals we raised
to put true and good protein on our table.
It has been an interesting ride. These days in our
family, we continue to seek out the least modified food because we now have
greater access and cook up a grand feast of every variety to nurture our souls
using color, texture, herbs and spices. We still throw a few apples in a pan
with unbleached sugar and cinnamon and a sprinkle of nutmeg – cook it for a few
minutes, mashing it with a fork for sweet hot applesauce. We still can our own
minimally salted tomatoes in pints, hot water bath for a musical ping. We still
make breads – flat breads, fruit breads, and fine breakfast cinnamon rolls. We
have container gardens and fresh herbs during the season. All easy stuff.
All of this growth, it should be noted is without hostile
judgment. We are very aware of population issues and the planet – land and water.
And we do still love our Little Debbies (sorry if we offend the purists). We
also know it isn’t over, this great big awareness and choice of how we will
eat in the future. We know energy sources are changing, capturing water, growing vertically,
eating locally grown products, finding protein in more efficient resources where
the production costs are far less than the anticipated outcome. We personally
began with crunchy granola as a life change, but honestly, in the big picture, we
humans are on the verge of wonderful new ways to feed ourselves and our
neighbors, we just have to work together, diligently, to make it happen.
Wishing you good food every day,
Helene
