Towards a Food Culture

A culture of Food is the living relationship with a place. Humans, over hundreds of years, have developed ways of eating that allow them to survive in a place according to what grows there. Eating what thrives in a place allows us as animals also to thrive. We learned what not to eat because it is poisonous and we learned how to prepare foods so that by cooking them or preparing them in certain ways or in certain combinations, we are able to receive the most nourishment out of them. And accordingly, as this was passed down mother to daughter, the ways of cooking and preparing what is locally abundant became a culture, a way of eating that when looked at as a whole, epitomizes a culture and its relationship to place. Think of Mexican food, Thai food, Italian food, Japanese food. Greek food.

We were in Greece, and it was absolutely extraordinarily beautiful and wonderful. And part of why it was so stunning- apart from amazing sunny weather, warm ocean water for swimming, Tai Chi and Chi Gong every day for 6 hours, and friends- is that the food was not only completely delicious, the food culture came from there. Being an Island, it is easier to keep one's food culture intact without the press of fast food and corn syrup breathing quite so steeply down one's neck.

We ate mussels with ouzo and dill-feta cheese sauce, sundried- grilled Mackerel, tzatziki, dolmades, bread with sesame seeds all over it, wine, ouzo, sun-dried grape wine, Greek salad, cooked chicory greens, spinach, grilled lamb, baklava and on and on. Everything was in season, delicious, and came out of the food traditions of that place. I wanted to eat Greece into my belly and bring it home- I bought salt, sage, thyme, oregano, olive oil, and stuffed grape leaves to bring home. And then, when I got here, I recreated as many of the meals as I could. But it tasted different. Being here, one needs to eat things from here. Maybe not all the time- it is still fun to go out to an Italian or Thai restaurant once in a while. Bt i notice, that I want to eat the things that grow here and that come from here. I don't cook, for example, the way I did in New Mexico, because I learned the food that was traditional there to eat.  Now, I am learning what is traditional for here.

For example, corn, beans, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, are all "New World" plants, meaning they come from the American Continent (north and south). Fava beans, lentils, grains, brassicas (the cabbage family), carrots, parsnips, turnips come from here. That doesn't mean I am never going eat a potato or that I won't have tomatoes in my garden next year. But it is an interesting thing to begin to be aware of what belongs here, to this soil. What grows best, how the traditions of cooking come from the things that are indigenous to this place.

I don't know the answer, but I am definitely interested in trying to cook and grow my way into an answer.