food from the farmer

this week i went to an 'earth week' vegetarian cooking class taught by a woman whose business card read "raphaeology practitioner, herbal wise woman, city farms trainer, and community food educator" (with a picture of a radiant sunflower field).

she started by asking if we had communed with the earth for earth day, and immediately made it clear she wanted to "get out of the head" and have a conversation around food...so she told us a story, "my grandmother used lemons to clean her jewelry," and then made us tell our own..."who has a story? tell us your story." she also pressed us on the nutritional value of what we were about to eat. "what do we know about lemons?" "it's a salt substitute." "and what else?" "they cleanse your system." nothing about calories or tablespoons of this or that, but it was a continuous dialogue peppered with questions and interesting little facts.

"you see how ginger is shaped like fingers? when it's shaped like this, it usually means it's good for your hands...so ginger is good for arthritis." as she picked up the peels, "the skin of fruits and vegetables is often more nutritious than the inside...don't waste the skins. let them set with warm water in a bucket. eggplant juice, the sweetest juice i've ever had."

she grew all of her food, and told us how the minute you pick something, it's dying. "why buy something picked in guatemala, shipped on a boat and packed onto a truck that drove across the country? by the time it's at the store, it's beyond dead. go to the farmers market; buy from the farmer."

"anyone have a story about cinnamon?" and she would add onto whatever knowledge or story people had volunteered...."cinnamon is a natural appetite suppressant. when you go to an asian restaurant, they sometimes give you cinnamon tea, which ends the meal, while the west finishes off with cake or dessert. and cinnamon is also good for diabetes...do you know where it comes from? some people think you just pick cinnamon sticks off the trees. no, it comes from the bark of trees. not a lot of people know that nutmeg is good for stroke prevention....has everyone seen it? it's a little ball. dandelions are a demonized plant that everyone steps on, so i wanted to incorporate it into our meal. it has vitamin a and c. nettles...don't sting after they've been processed and dried. wherever you find nettles, you'll usually find the antidote growing nearby."

we talked about food lovingly, as if every element were special and precious...and she asked us to give the pot love as it was stirred. by the time the cutting, grating, smelling, stirring and tasting was finished, we were all salivating and i think the pot was overflowing with love.

the menu:
bread with hummus
dandelions and nettles salad
carrots with ginger (flavored with lemon, cinnamon, and nutmeg)
curried rice with potatoes (tumeric and cumin)
black beans (sage and thyme)
plantains
baked apples (cinnamon, nutmeg, sesame seeds)

her food was simple, no fancy preparation or ingredients, but everything was delicious.