My Food and I: Reconnecting

When my family and I went to Feather Down on Stony Creek Farm a couple of weeks ago, we had more than just a bonding experience with each other, we had a bonding experience with our food.

When living in a large city such as New York, it’s very easy to not think about where our food comes from and how we can have an impact not only in our health but also in the health of our local farms.

I won’t be a hypocrite and say that I don’t enjoy my take-outs and my foreign meals at fancy restaurants, and  I won’t deny that I often seek out those little extravagances in the local markets from places much further away than my own city borders. I also would admit to loving meat and not really embracing vegan-ism or vegetarianism at all.

However, having been on the farm, an experience I recommend to anyone, really brought me back to the basics of where our food comes from. It really made me focus on the different things that take place, good, bad, or both, to bring those foods to our table.

But most of all, it reminded me of how truly delicious food (good, unadulterated, non-processed food) really, really is. But not delicious in a political or moral stance sort of way, just delicious in a this-meal-took-me-somewhere-special sorta of way.

It’s hard to describe in words how it feels to eat the eggs that you picked yourself from the chicken coop, or the chicken that you chased down, bled out, de-feathered, boiled, butchered and gutted, cleaned , seasoned, and grilled, or the vegetables you’ve planted, cared for over weeks or months, then picked, or butter from the cow you milked, cream you separated and then shook before spreading on the bread you baked yourself. It’s hard to describe and it is unlike any emotion one could gather from shopping at the store.

And if you are a lover of food as I am, it has a way of affecting you enough that you want to make sure you can retain as much of that feeling even in the urban jungle of NYC.

I began to wonder what would it take to have a local community garden? Why is it so difficult to get raw milk? Why is good, healthy food so, so, so terribly expensive, and most of all, hard to find especially when we are a nation that suffers from obesity? Why, if it is true that there is a rising concern for things such as the high numbers of those that suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and other afflicting conditions, are there more fast food restaurants than there are farmer’s markets?

Why is it, to that respect, that I can go to a more affluent area such as the Upper West Side in NYC and have healthy food options and vendors on almost every corner, but in low-income neighborhoods I find almost none? Why is it that good food, organic food, and healthy options are only being catered to the more affluent in our communities and in selected neighborhoods, but not in those areas where the numbers of those afflicted as mentioned already are higher?

Reconnecting with one’s food does more than just awaken the physical senses that make a great meal unforgettable, it also has a way of awakening a passion, curiosity, and frustration as to why, when it comes to accessing good food, things are the way they are.

I am not saying here that I won’t enjoy a good hot dog or pizza every once in awhile. Nor am I banning Chinese take out forever.

But I will admit that every time I sit down for a meal, I am siting down with a new sense of self and my role and responsibility in everything that I eat and feed my family.

A part of me is angry. A part of me is sad. Mostly for those who can’t afford it, nor have physical access to these options.

My own family has made changes. In order to continue to eat meats, but only have it be good quality, organically fed, non-chemically filled or affected meats, which is ridiculously expensive for a family of 5, we will eat less of it, so we can afford it.

Places such as Stony Creek Farm have the resources to provide good quality food to our communities, but they don’t always have the demand, nor do they have the support to sustain themselves.

But when you can, you should take a moment and go to the farm for a few days with the kids or connect with a local farmer at a farmer’s market in the city. It could lead to more and more people reconnecting with their food and have their passions awakened so strongly that we can affect change, not only for those who can afford it, but for our communities as a whole.

I thank farmers like Kate and Dan Marsiglio for reaching out to others to educate, inform, and raise awareness. But also for their time, their passion, their work, and most of all their food.

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Tags: food
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