When the book I ordered on edible weeds arrived at the office last week, I whooped and excitedly shared the contents with the four other people in the room. The response was one of blank stares and unintelligible murmurs before heads turned back to individual computer screens.
Obviously, my enthusiasm for cooking up pickings from my back lawn did not translate to my coworkers. Their reaction, or lack thereof, begs the question, how do we change the way we eat?
I ordered the book, “Foraged Flavor”, by Tama Matsuoka Wong, after I attended a talk centered on that exact theme, “Changing the Way We Eat.” Held at the Cup Café downstairs in Houlton’s Unitarian Church I got comfy with a café au lait and listened to an array of people talk on the subject via video stream from an event being held simultaneously in New York City.
Coming from diverse backgrounds, the speakers talked about seed biodiversity, seeds and faith, food justice, food in schools, and yes, even weeds. Living in a country where decisions regarding our commodity-based goods are ruled by corporate influence, it was inspiring to hear how these everyday people were focused on working for the benefit of others.
For example, there was the woman who left her career as a professor to share the story of seeds. Her passion is fueled by her belief that the story of seeds is embedded in the story of us and that all-important foundation is disappearing with statistics such as the fact that three corporations account for over one-half of the global seed market. When viewed from that perspective, the biodiversity, seed knowledge and cultural integrity of seeds to place becomes a crisis.
Another woman from the west side of Chicago lives in what has come to be known as a food desert. To give you a sense of what that means, this woman remarked how in her neighborhood it was literally easier for her to walk out her door and buy a semi-automatic gun than to buy a fresh tomato. Similar to Tama Wong’s path to edible weeds, she became a self-proclaimed food activist after her young son developed severe food allergies. She and others in her west side community responded by banding together and turned empty abandoned lots into community gardens.
Ms. Wong responded to her child’s allergies by educating herself about food, growing much of her own and, when the weeds threatened to overtake the vegetable beds, decided to embrace rather than fight them — relying on research and talking with growers and naturalists and botanists. Incredibly, she went from working with clients on Wall Street to a professional forager, supplying a restaurant with known and new wild edibles, and developing recipes along the way. Hence, the book, “Foraged Flavor”.
As Ms. Wong noted in her speech, we forget that we are part of nature. It’s OK to be a little messy, especially when it can taste so good. In the meantime, Lambsquarters Rigatoni Casserole anyone?
Editor’s note: Angie Wotton loves her work as district manager for the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 532-9407 or via e-mail at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net.
