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"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." -- Helen Keller
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March 12, 2010 | |||||||
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 Food, Glorious Food by Wood Turner Posted April 4, 2002 How sharing slow, savory meals and meandering conversations with friends, colleagues, and family could very well save the world. NEW Reader Responses are a goodthing! Join the conversation! Fellow GoodLetter readers, I feel confident saying that in our neighborhood, we've got the best, freshest, friendliest taqueria around. There's usually a line of folks out the door intent on packing the restaurant's tiny tables and cramped but charming counter overlooking the street. I relish my all-too-frequent visits to this cozy spot, but I'm sad to say that it rarely has anything to do with my desire to linger over the food or the atmosphere or a conversation with a friend or colleague. I can tell you that I just ran downstairs to order my customary mid-day veggie burrito which, as always, I had every intention of swallowing whole. I've just gulped my way through another solo lunch break prominently featuring extremely fast (although delicious) food, and I've been remembering a recent conversation. A good friend of mine is European and spends a lot of time jetting back and forth across the Atlantic. She was lamenting to me that a quiet, slow-paced airport restaurant she cherished had unceremoniously closed. She remembered it as a place where she could actually enjoy the fact that she was now finding herself at the airport -- in full post-September 11 mode -- two long hours before flights, savoring both food and companionship. Its soft chairs, relaxing atmosphere, and menu full of the very best kinds of so-called "comfort" food made the place seem like a relic in an airport otherwise laden with swirling food courts and impatient travelers. That it seemed like it belonged to another time was made plain by a fading sign she'd noticed on her most recent trip: "After 30 years of service, the airport restaurant lounge had to close. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you." Indeed. To hear my friend tell it, doomed now to Cinnabons and Subways, she'll skip the airport altogether next time and take a boat. In essence, with my friend's story, the hyper-accelerated quest for convenience had prevailed. A more appropriate sign might have read: "We apologize for any lack of personal connection this may have caused you" or "We apologize for not being able to continue giving you a humane place to sit peacefully and have a conversation and share a meal with someone." Her story really put in perspective all that sharing food in a slow, measured way can mean for how we live our lives. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not pining for some romanticized vision of pseudo-simpler, bygone days. But it does seem as though the benefits of sitting down at a common table with other people over food are something we take woefully for granted. I've had food on the brain a lot these days. I was invited to the town of Duncan, British Columbia, Canada in Vancouver Island's beautiful Cowichan Valley to talk to a group of folks about what we've been doing at GoodThings. Every month or so, a small community-based non-profit known as CAKE (for Community Acts of Kindness Endeavors) invites someone in to speak about refreshing examples of constructive and progressive actions going on in the world. The goal is to give people in their town of 4,500 an opportunity to engage in efforts to make a difference and, frankly, to debunk the myth that people in small towns prefer to look inward rather than consider issues of global significance. What makes these gatherings truly extraordinary, though, is that food is central. Tables are pushed together to create what amounts to one gargantuan platter covered with plenty of food to share. The idea behind this extended and surely splendid table is to maximize opportunities for people to talk to each other. Food has a way of enlivening and invigorating the occasion, and I was convinced, after I'd finished my talk, that the quality of the questions people asked was directly proportional to their delight over the quality of the food and fellowship. I was truly thrilled to have been a part of the earnest aims of the people who spearhead CAKE, and I was touched by their warm hospitality. Theirs is a model that should inspire people in small towns and large, who yearn for a community of people motivated by common progressive causes and issues and crave an effective way to bring those people together. If you'll pardon the pun, CAKE is, no doubt, having its cake and eating it, too. Much has been made of the idea of so-called "slow food" with its roots in the culinary traditions of Italy, and it has a lot in common with both what my friend misses about her now-extinct airport restaurant and what the folks in Duncan are trying to do with their common-table community gatherings. And with the buzz that's surrounded books like Eric Schlosser's hamburger-and-fries exposé, Fast Food Nation, the Slow Food movement (with its manifesto that includes the admonition, "We are enslaved by speed") has a serious head of steam. In a nutshell, slow food isn't fast food. I suppose that isn't to say that fast food -- in certain contexts -- can't be slow food, but the opposite is definitely not true. Slow food is predicated on the basic notion that when we allow ourselves the time to eat, wonderful things happen. First of all, we enjoy the food we eat so much more. We're also healthier and happier because we're more relaxed. Most importantly, though, we give ourselves the chance to know each other -- and the things we can accomplish together -- better. One thing I failed to mention about how the folks in Duncan, BC use food to build community. Their invited speaker has the honor of being able to choose a single local charity to donate the proceeds of the event ticket sales. I haven't sent them my vote yet, but wouldn't you know it -- fat and happy after lunch and committed to the idea that next time I'm sharing my burrito experience with a chatty friend, I'm picking the community food bank. Bon appetit, Wood Turner Editor/Publisher, GoodThings, Inc. Wood would love to convince you that the secret of a perfect burrito is in the beans. Click here for his favorite goodthings. (Thoughts on this GoodLetter? Inspired by what you've read? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.) |
TALK ABOUT IT Some of the best ideas come to light over a meal shared with friends, family, and colleagues. How do you take advantage of meal time? How has good, slow food brought you closer to people and helped inspire new directions in your life? Share your stories and ideas. LEARN ABOUT IT Get a variety of perspectives on the concept of slow food: :: SlowFood.com :: Article on slow food in The Nation magazine :: GoNomad.com :: GlobalIdeasBank.org :: CommonDreams.org :: PBS.org :: Mother Earth News :: Bountiful Table DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT :: Read the much-talked-about book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser :: Better yet, ask a friend out to lunch today! Readers Respond Dear GoodThings, This is a great article. Please check out a related general reading from the United Nations FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization) for the developing countries' perspective: Food needs: How much is enough?
Thanks,
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