I've been comparing food lately. Or maybe its more along the lines of putting food on some kind of hierarchy of deliciousness. Honestly I have no idea how to break it down, but it goes a little like this...
One night last week I was riding my bike home after a full days worth of adventures in our fair city. It was getting kind of late and I was getting really hungry. As I peddled past areas known for food procurement, I just kept thinking how they did not match up with what I wanted. And that's when I noticed that going out to eat has become a great bummer of sorts. I look back into the kitchens and see bags of chips, tubs of hummus, cans of tomatoes, blah blah blah, so that's one level of it, simply realizing that restaurants aren't making, creating, exploring great gastronomic experiences much anymore. They are providing places for mixing the equivalent of a well, call, or top shelf bar choices based on the standard food put in a bag, box, or can and then put on a plate in some one way or other. Now I now that this is not a universally true statement, however, it holds a piece of it for me at this moment. And this idea is not new; that restaurants have become this beacon of convenience for an overworked, consumption driven species known as the Great American Capitalist. And I have fallen into this trap.
Let me compare some experiences that rebukes all of the above and is saving me from giving up on going out.
Several times this week I found myself at, planning a night to go to, or made arrangements to consume a meal from Los Gorditos. I really enjoy outings to this spot. I have much gratitude and appreciation for the people who make the food, run the dine-in spot and the food cart. The food is super tasty! They put in a separate grill for vegans. The family is amazing and I always have such a great time there with friends and friends to be. In fact I often find myself here, or making plans for B & B (there is a beer spot called Apex right next door). I don't go here for nutritional needs, but caloric needs and good flavor with smiles and laughter.
Another experience I had this week was Portobello; Portland's vegan Italian spot. What an amazing experience each and every time. This experience involved my first pizza by them, and damn, it was amazing! The cashew cream instead of any version of a vegan cheese kind of thing just rocked my socks off! And I shouldn't have to mention the arugula and beet salad that I just can't skip when I indulge here, but I will. Its such a simple salad that fills my taste buds with wonder each and every time I order it. There are very few things left on their menu that they do not make from scratch. In fact, when Coconut Bliss sold its major shares to a dairy, the pastry person (I believe) started making their "ice cream". This is a mandate that you can taste. Each bite feels fresh like a spring day with your favorite person of the moment. It doesn't hurt that I know at least one of the small local farmers that provides them with delicious ingredients easing the evolution their menu takes as the seasons bring its bounty to help hold us in time and place.... I mean, come on, a sweet potato kale pizza is certainly a winter/spring moment in the pacific northwest.
Now I want to compare a simple breakfast that doubled as my lunch one day this week as I was given the gift of an extra 1/2 hour one morning. All the ingredients came from the farmers market. So I sauteed up german butterball potatoes with some yellow onions and parsnips with just a little salt and pepper in olive oil. Just as the potatoes softened up, and the parsnips got good and buttery, I added some local bulk salsa from the co-op and then tossed in this braising green mix that is rockin'. I left it alone until the greens just turned nice and dark. Poof, breakfast was ready. I had a spot of tea with a splash of hazelnut milk (hazelnuts from Oregon) that I made the day before. The kitchen was all mine and I enjoyed the solitude. I read from The Myth of Freedom as both my food and myself softened into the day. As much as I loved all my other experiences of food, this meal may have been my favorite (re-heated for lunch may actually have been a little better but I was really hungry by the time I got to it) purely from a food perspective! The conversations and company of the other meals is priceless, unequivocally delightful, and immeasurable!
So what is my point here. I don't want food to be an after thought. I want it to be intentional. I want the food to come to me with out harming others. I want the flavor to reflect a piece of the person creating it for me/us. I want us to return to the creative nature of our lives. Maybe its the realization that the kitchen doesn't have to be this place of enslavement that it has been for many, whether at home or in the food industry. Where we gather for food is, or can be, a place we gather for community, conversation, healing, nourishment of the body and the soul. A place to laugh, sing (this happens in our kitchen a lot), dance (also common), play, cry, let go, experiment, and give back. It doesn't matter where it is as long as we come with this idea that food is important. How we get it from the soil to our mouths says a great deal about who we are as a culture, as a consumer, as a member of the food chain. To me this may be at the heart of food justice.
More on that last thread to come....
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