Friday, December 9, 2011

That Rosebud School Garden Again

Here's a link to Montana's Evening news from Dec. 8, where AERO (Alternative Energy Resource Organization) asked me to share a little bit about the work I'm doing in eastern Montana. It is a summary of my Montana FoodCorps Blog from October. Tune in at minute 25:30.

http://www.mtpr.net/program_info/2011-12-08-132

I decided it would be a little too depressing to mention that three weeks ago the greenhouse heater failed on a particularly cold night and killed all of the tomato plants, but we will be reevaluating and winterizing the building soon so we can hopefully try planting again after the holidays.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Cooking at Christmastime!

Winter has officially arrived in eastern Montana. This past weekend we got a surprise dusting of snow and temperatures hovering around 5 degrees. Since I’m slowly recovering from a cold, it was the perfect time for cranking up the heater and the Christmas music in my little apartment and doing some cooking!

For me, the Christmas season is largely defined by food. The arrival of the holidays is signaled by seasonal coffee drinks, pastries doused in cinnamon and hearty soups. I’ve stocked up on butter for cookies, potatoes for stew and have been keeping an eye out for a candy thermometer that won’t melt while in use.

Although consumerism certainly has a stranglehold on the holidays, much of the season is defined by the food we eat. Thanksgiving, of course, is all about turkey (and pie!) but in truth the entire season revolves around food. It’s the time when families gather in the kitchen and everyone participates in the crafting of celebratory meals. Ham, prime rib, roast beast, salads, homemade bread, sweet potatoes, pie, whipped cream, eggnog, chocolate. Even the least culinary-inclined families have traditions surrounding the food they eat, whether they keep the cranberry sauce in the shape of the can or set the pudding on fire. My Christmas Eve isn’t complete without a Buche de Noel, a chocolate dessert carefully decorated as a rotting log, including gummy holly and meringue mushrooms.

During the holidays, even people who don’t normally cook take a go in the kitchen. Family expectations push people who can barely make pasta into crafting homemade dinners, and children who’ve yet to learn how to make scrambled eggs help make cookies. Even accomplished cooks are pushed past their comfort zones to produce the perfect holiday meal.

Although it’s often viewed as a source of stress, the fact that the holidays push more people into their kitchens is fantastic. The season helps to make food about more than just sustenance- it becomes a social event, one that everyone participates in and benefits from. By virtue of the fact that people do more cooking around Christmastime, I argue that this raises the quality, if not necessarily the nutrition, of the food that Americans eat.

Because it’s the season of food, this is a great time to start a conversation about cooking, and about how not nearly enough people are doing it. Our current health crisis stems from Americans’ preference for processed foods and their growing inability to produce anything independently in the kitchen. Inexperience is a formidable opponent when it comes to cooking, but Christmas time is the one time of year when it can matter less than normal. Learning to cook again is one of the most important things that Americans can do to both improve their health and well-being. Cooking ensures they eat at least a little healthier, and makes it a little less likely that they are eating alone.