Comments on: The Virtue of Food http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/ Ever notice that some of the best discoveries, the clearest thinking and the best discussions take place in coffee houses or with a hot beverage in hand? While reading this blog take the chance to relax, drink something warming and be. While you’re here put your over-active brain to rest and let the moment wash over you. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:03:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: Rushan http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3316 Rushan Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:27:10 +0000 http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3316 It is true that food, or more accurately, the preparation and sharing of food, has lost its place at the center of our lives. Very few people cook these days and many consider taking a frozen, pre-packaged meal and zapping it in the microwave to be the same as cooking. Food has become something you grab on the run/on the drive from one place to another. It has become all about convenience. Food is so much more than the consuming of something to provide sustenance. A large part of the appreciation of food comes from the selection of ingredients, the slicing and dicing, the minute adjustments of flavours and the fragrance of cooking food as it pervades the house. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend "The Supper of the Lamb" by Robert Farrar Capon. He is an Episcopal clergyman who is passionate about food. In the first chapter of this book he leads us through a slow and deliberate meditation on peeling and chopping an onion. Talk about cooking as prayer! I wasn't going to go into all that, but I did. I guess one of the questions we need to ask is why food (and everything around food) has become such a "hassle" in our (post)modern society? Isn't this phenomenon a symptom rather than the disease? Should we not be challenging the systems that have allowed this to happen? It is true that food, or more accurately, the preparation and sharing of food, has lost its place at the center of our lives. Very few people cook these days and many consider taking a frozen, pre-packaged meal and zapping it in the microwave to be the same as cooking. Food has become something you grab on the run/on the drive from one place to another. It has become all about convenience. Food is so much more than the consuming of something to provide sustenance. A large part of the appreciation of food comes from the selection of ingredients, the slicing and dicing, the minute adjustments of flavours and the fragrance of cooking food as it pervades the house. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend “The Supper of the Lamb” by Robert Farrar Capon. He is an Episcopal clergyman who is passionate about food. In the first chapter of this book he leads us through a slow and deliberate meditation on peeling and chopping an onion. Talk about cooking as prayer!

I wasn’t going to go into all that, but I did. I guess one of the questions we need to ask is why food (and everything around food) has become such a “hassle” in our (post)modern society? Isn’t this phenomenon a symptom rather than the disease? Should we not be challenging the systems that have allowed this to happen?

]]> By: Nick http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3310 Nick Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:14:14 +0000 http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3310 It's only a "hassle" because food has lost its place at the centre of our lives. It used to be (and still is in many places; Austria and Italy for example, for the most part) that our lives were planned around the getting and preparing of food. People would go shopping every day, or at least every week, preparing their meals on paper ahead of time to know which ingredients to buy. It is this loss of food as a grounding point, in terms of health, economics and society which I think is detrimental. The idea of food as a "hassle" is exactly the ideology which proves my point - that food has taken a back-burner (excuse the pun). It’s only a “hassle” because food has lost its place at the centre of our lives. It used to be (and still is in many places; Austria and Italy for example, for the most part) that our lives were planned around the getting and preparing of food. People would go shopping every day, or at least every week, preparing their meals on paper ahead of time to know which ingredients to buy.

It is this loss of food as a grounding point, in terms of health, economics and society which I think is detrimental. The idea of food as a “hassle” is exactly the ideology which proves my point - that food has taken a back-burner (excuse the pun).

]]> By: Richard http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3308 Richard Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:28:45 +0000 http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3308 The challenge is that today "slowing down" and choosing to buy products and services locally is often very difficult. Globalised consumption is made easy and cheap for us (that's one of the reasons it's so successful). So to opt out of the system takes a concious decision, time, effort and extra monetary cost. Are the benefits worth the additional "hassle"? I would say yes, but it's sure hard to buy locally when the supermarket is open 24/7 and is just up the road. The challenge is that today “slowing down” and choosing to buy products and services locally is often very difficult. Globalised consumption is made easy and cheap for us (that’s one of the reasons it’s so successful). So to opt out of the system takes a concious decision, time, effort and extra monetary cost. Are the benefits worth the additional “hassle”? I would say yes, but it’s sure hard to buy locally when the supermarket is open 24/7 and is just up the road.

]]> By: Nick http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3304 Nick Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:57:43 +0000 http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3304 That's fantastic! I really believe that there is a strong movement starting, but it still has a long way to go against the monolithic ideologies of the current system. Particularly in the farming industry itself where it is "easier" to spray on pesticides and herbicides... That’s fantastic! I really believe that there is a strong movement starting, but it still has a long way to go against the monolithic ideologies of the current system. Particularly in the farming industry itself where it is “easier” to spray on pesticides and herbicides…

]]> By: Rushan http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3303 Rushan Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:53:49 +0000 http://www.commontone.net/2008/06/06/the-virtue-of-food/#comment-3303 Good post. This is one of the main reasons why our church has started hosting farmers' markets in the winter. We hosted one last winter and 750+ people turned up to shop (and something like 20 local farmers brought produce to sell). Members of our church are also becoming vocal supporters of the slow food movement (www.slowfood.com)which is working to "...counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world." Good post. This is one of the main reasons why our church has started hosting farmers’ markets in the winter. We hosted one last winter and 750+ people turned up to shop (and something like 20 local farmers brought produce to sell). Members of our church are also becoming vocal supporters of the slow food movement (www.slowfood.com)which is working to “…counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.”

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