Today, after cooking a birthday meal for my granddaughter (local, fresh, nutritious everything), I spent the afternoon reading the final chapters of This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow. Being introduced to the work of Joan Gussow was a serendipitous outcome of the urban chicken-keeping talk I gave at the library last week. During one of the symposium breaks, a participant came up to me and said that my talk reminded her of Joan's book. Needless to say, I was intrigued and went out to buy a copy the next day. I have been amazed to find that Joan Gussow recognized the unsustainability of our food system more than forty years ago and has been teaching, lecturing, and growing her own food as a moral imperative ever since.
As I look back at the last sentence I am struck by the term that almost automatically appeared in the line of text: moral imperative. Just what do I mean by that? I would define it as an issue of justice that has arisen within a person's own frame of reference for what is right and wrong. It does not depend on dogma or rules of any organization or group, and it is held as a valid call to action by the individual holding the belief. Food brings with it justice issues. There are issues of health that relate to food safety and nutrition, or lack thereof. There are issues of fairness related to government subsidies, labor rights, and equitable and responsible use of non-renewable resources used in food production. There are issues related to the tying of a country's food supply system to a capitalist economic system that serves only growth and profits. At some point there will enter a counter, a moral imperative, that will insist upon a regard not just for profits, but also for the health of the community, people and planet, the food system serves.
Forty years ago, while I was a new mother unthinkingly buying every kind of canned baby food sold at the A&P grocery, Joan Gussow understood our flawed food system and had begun growing her own food. (Unlike many who have been "born again," she is a "flexible fanatic" who will buy food at farmer's markets or farm stands near her home, but she is ever aware of the real cost, economic and social, of food--and that applies to the food she grows as well as the food she buys.) It has taken quite a few years for me to reach the level of understanding that would compel me to turn our front lawn into a garden, but there it is--and though I am nowhere near growing all of our food, I am surprised by how much food I actually do grow. Broccoli was a bumper for us this winter, as were beets, carrots, cabbages, and Swiss chard. We have grown our own lettuces for over a year. I have changed considerably over the last forty years--as everyone is likely to do. And though my past includes many food-processed "sins," I have to say-- I never, ever bought a package of Hamburger Helper.
That reminds me of a Buddhist saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." In the last couple of years, several teachers have appeared that have set me off on a journey of discovery that has been fulfilling in mind, spirit, and especially, body! If I were to make of list of influential "food" teachers, people who have helped me to develop my own moral imperative related to food justice, Michael Pollan would have to have a prominent spot, along with Frances Moore Lappe, and the family and friends who have given me sage advice in getting my garden to grow. Now I can add Joan Gussow's name to the list of people who have fueled my passion for growing my own food, for supporting local farmers and farmer's markets, and for bolstering my determination to stay away from processed foods--except for an occasional pint of Haagen Dazs.
