Good morning!
I had an inspirational (and busy) weekend. Standout themes: community, spirituality, and food. With a background in clinical social work, part of me usually has an ear cocked to the effects of my individual actions on the larger society. And if you’re dedicated to food, sooner or later you will run across its social, economic, political, and cultural repercussions. Here’s how this process unfolded for me on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
I spent Friday afternoon preparing food for a Shamanic Journeying class. Shamanism is the oldest spiritual tradition known to humankind. It’s been around since we first emerged on the scene. If that phrase “shamanic journeying” makes you go “huh??”, follow this link for a nice explanation of what it is.
Anyway, as many of us know, food can be a great tool for grounding. If we were going to be visiting non-ordinary reality, we’d probably need some treats to help our physical bodies reconnect with the Earth. But which foods would best facilitate that? Twizzlers and Coke? Crepes and crudite? A few weeks ago I sat with this question and allowed my intuition to dictate a menu. I went with what emerged. Here’s what came up (all ingredients were organic whenever possible):
- trail mix composed of raw pecans, unsweetened dried cherries, apple juice sweetened cranberries, raw cacao nibs, malt grain sweetened dark chocolate chips.
- kale chips seasoned with apple cider vinegar, salt, garlic powder, agave and cayenne, baked in the oven.
- spaghetti squash mixed with butter, cinnamon, maple syrup and a pinch of salt.
- corn cakes prepared with corn, milk, butter and salt.
I proposed the menu to the group leader and she loved it. Later, I realized:
- the corn cakes to which I had referred were actually called “Journey Cakes” in my Arkansas cookbook (how appropriate!)
- I had quite a few native foods represented: corn, squash, cranberries, cacao / chocolate, maple syrup
What does this mean? I don’t know. Interesting coincedences? Spirit requesting foods that were indigenous to this part of the world? My subconscious making puns? Whatever it was, the menu worked. The recipes offered seemed to be just what the participants needed.
Saturday night I went to the annual Slow Food meeting for the Boulder Chapter. Bookcliff Vineyards hosted, with a delicious wine tasting during the meet and greet portion of the evening. We had a scrumptious pot luck (Morroccan lamb pie, anyone?) and the people were lovely.
Elections were held during the actual meeting. Then the floor opened for members to suggest event ideas for 2010. And of course, I had many. Would you expect anything less? 
I’m the Boulder Chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation, and we have quite a bit of overlap with Slow Food in terms of obsession with and dedication to food, but also I’d say that as a generalization we’re more focused on nutrition and traditional, nutrient-dense foods. I hoped we could partner with Slow Food, and I made the following suggestions:
1. Monthly Speaker Series on nutrition. As focused we are in Boulder on holistic health, I’ve been really surprised at the lack of a central meeting place for regular, free or low cost public health talks. Sure, there are a few establishments around town that host, but the turnout isn’t great. In fact, as a speaker I was even cautioned about this issue when planning local presentations. I’d discussed this with Cafe of Life and we’d decided to work on filling this vacuum with compelling presentations and delicious food. I invited Slow Food to partner with us.
2. Food Film Festival. Again, I wonder why Boulder, of all places, doesn’t have one. Last spring I started dreaming about what it would take to create a simple weekend of three or four films and a panel discussion.
The Film Festival idea was particularly well-received. So we’ll see what emerges from these projects. I like serving the community, and I like getting people excited about food. Now if only I could figure out a way to get paid for it…
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