This is my friend, Pastor Tim Christensen, who was with us for a few days last week. It was an awesome time because in a few short days we got to do a lot of cooking together. In this photo Tim is laying out the peach halves that we drizzled with honey and placed on the BBQ grill for dessert! We finished them off with a touch of well aged balsamic vinegar. Heaven on earth--to be cooking with Tim, and enjoying such amazing local produce, and then sharing it all with good friends. When you add in a couple of beautiful, well-made local wines that just seals the deal.
This is all a part of a small group ministry in our church. The basic premise was to go to the local farmer's market each Thursday and purchase locally grown food, and then take it home and make a meal out of it. Then the group shows up and we eat and drink, and talk about different food issues from a faith perspective. As Tim and I were walking home from the market last week I looked down at my little red wagon filled with beautiful, locally grown food and wine, looked up and Tim and said, "You want me to blow your mind? This is all church." When you think of church do you think of awesome food, good wine and fun fellowship around meals? Well, why not? If you read the Gospel of Mark, that seems to be about all Jesus ever does.
Jeff Peterson and Efrain Arredondo are leading the class and doing the cooking with me. Tim was filling in for Jeff last week. Jeff was in Guatemala doing a research project with Habitat for Humanity. Here's a list of some of the selected readings we are doing for the class:
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman
Animal, Mineral, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Food and Faith: Justice Joy and Daily Bread by Michael Schut
and The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason.
It has led to some very lively discussions about food and how we eat, and what we eat, and how that all ties into our lives of faith. For me it started with Bitman's book where he lays out some simple ideas for eating better and helping the planet. I had never considered that the way I eat adds a great deal to my carbon footprint. I also like that Bittman is laid back about it all. He's changing the way he eats, but he's not becoming a total vegetarian.
The process of shopping and cooking for the class has been a joy. The readings have stretched me and gotten me to look at food in a new and more complex way. I'm so thankful that I serve a church that cares enough about these issues to study them in some depth.
We're all at different stages of our journeys with faith and food. Efrain has made amazing strides to get the majority of his foods locally. He also cans his own food and does a lot of dehydrating to make it through the long winter months. Jeff has started his own CSA and you can read his blog about the experience at http://barnowlfarms.blogspot.com/ Eating well for yourself, and for the environment is a complex issue. It's great to have a group of well-informed, intelligent people to help me through the process. It's also fun to read Bittman and just say "To heck with it . . . I'm having a cheeseburger!"