Patience and Food
I have issues with being patient. For certain aspects of my life I really can't stand waiting. But then for other things it's no big deal.
For example, I like waiting for Christmas. I like the anticipation, I like celebrating on Christmas. I was never one of those kids who tried to find/open my presents early (I guess the modern equivalent would be seeing what's been bought off my Amazon Wish List…). To me waiting until Christmas Day to open presents was part of what made the day special. So waiting for the right time to enjoy or celebrate is no problem.
But for other things in life I have significantly less patience. I hate being told by a doctor "we will call you in 3-5 days with your test results" when I KNOW that said results could be obtain in less than an hour. Or waiting around for someone who is late because they couldn't stop reading a book, or watching TV, or playing a computer game. It bugs me. My patience runs thin.
So I was intrigued by some comments about patience and self-restraint I read recently in Barbara Kingsolver's popular new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This is a fantastic book that chronicles a family's year of trying to eat locally, seasonally, and sustainably. I can't quote the exact passage since I immediately lent my copy to a friend, but she addresses the issue of patience in regards to our food choices. She writes (as a mother of two) about how parents often encourage their children to restrain from having sex until the timing is right (marriage…). But she asks how our children can respect our insistence on self-restraint if we can't even manage to restrain ourselves to buying food in season. Instead of waiting for the right time to harvest and eat a tomato, we demand on satisfying our hunger whenever the urge strikes. Our promiscuous ways lead us to the grocery story where pale refrigerated shadows of tomato are available stripped of antioxidants and nutrients all year round thanks to the gallons of oil that were consumed to ship it hundreds (or thousands) of miles in refrigerated crates. We don't think twice about the instant gratification of our appetites generally, so who are we to insist that our children buy into a value we have discarded?
So a tomato may be an easy example for me. I hated the things until I tasted the heirloom varieties delivered in my CSA box one year. I can wait for the real deal to appear in late summer and am not tempted by the reddish tinged impostor in the supermarket, but her point is well taken. Sure I froze and dried some veggies from my garden this past harvest, but not near enough to get us through the winter. I just assume that I can get whatever I want to eat whenever I want it at the store. Like all other consumers I am willing to give up taste, and nutritional value for easy access. I rarely stop to think that anything I am buying in the Winter months (and most everything during the rest of the year) was grown someplace far far away and shipped long distances to get to me (at taxpayers expense btw). Waiting, patience, and self-restraint are ignored as my need for convenient instant gratification gives sustainability the finger.
Honestly, sitting here in snow-blanketed Illinois in the middle of December there isn't much I can do. I can buy organic and at least reduce the negative impact my food choices have. And I can plan ahead for the future. I'm not going to move to a farm in Appalachia and raise my own turkeys, but there are ways I can sidestep our broken food system and live more responsibly. But it is something that will take time and effort. And a lot of patience.
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This is such a hard issue for me. My oldest daughter is 18 and REALLY into these issues. I'm 45 and trying to make a living and raise three children. Well, two now. The 18-year-old is pretty much raised in terms of daily attention.
I have no time and little energy. And it takes so much energy and time to buck the entire system NOW. So I shop at the store close to my house while we figure out what changes we can make that are earth friendly.
This is one of those things that I am realizing takes more than just adding activities, it's about complete lifestyle and worldview changes. And I'm smack in the middle of attempting to figure out what that means for my life. Some things I know I just have to be more deliberate about. Like this past year, I grew some of our food, but the rest came from the big supermarket. I could easily have walked two blocks to the local farmers market, but I managed to be busy every single Saturday morning all summer. I just didn't make it a priority.
Hi Julie –
First time visitor. You had me interested until you compared food self-restraint to abstinence until marriage. If the importance of these two issues are on an equal plane, then your message here is lacking of validity and merit…
Tony – thanks for visiting. If you read the post, the comparison wasn't mine but Kingsolver's from her book. I found it to be an interesting comparison and so commented on it. But your comment does reveal the underlying belief that hold by most modern people that our food choices are not ethical choices. We have given up on gluttony being one of the seven deadly sins, we care not if our food choices destroy the environment, or if our food choices hurt the producers of said food. We care not about the damage we do to our bodies and rely instead on drugs to treat the symptoms of the harm we have inflicted upon ourselves. And then tell people they lack validity and merit when they suggest that food is moral.
So yes I think Kingsolver's comparison is apropos, it just is too disturbing for most to hear. It is easy to point fingers at the sexual sins of others and tell them to change, it is a bit more disturbing to actually become aware of our own sins, especially when it involves something most prefer to see as an inalienable right and not a moral issue.
I've been wrestling with a number of issues related to self-control lately (food being one of them), so found your post timely. In terms of the self-indulgencies and gluttonous behaviors I personally need to address, buying a tomato in December is not high on my list. But I guess everyone has their own list.
Interesting post Julie- I think this is a challenge we would do well to respond to- like you we try to eat local produce, but at times there is simply no option.
Julie, I appreciate that you blogged on this – I was given this book a few weeks ago and am about halfway through it. I have already obtained a catalog from seed savers exchange and am taking the first steps into re-organzing my families food consumption and purchasing habits. As you said, it is quite a process. One of the things that has been such a big eye opener for me is the process of getting the foods from halfway around the world to my table. How much fuel, effort, etc does it take to ship some tropical fruit to my local store. It was also interesting to think in terms of the vegetannual and thinking about where in the world might it have been warm enough for this item to grow right now. I don't think I've ever stopped to think about it. Or just how much we sacrifice in order to meet our wants and desires. How 'entitled' we think we are…..
Look forward to more in your journey.
This was a timely read for me as I have been doing some praying and soul searching on where our food habits are headed in this coming new year. I've debated vegetarianism most of this year and want to commit to it for 2008. Most of the food required for this type of eating is available locally for me which is just one reason of many for making the change. Your thoughts were a good kick in the pants as '08 is quickly approaching.
Julie,
Thanks for this post. I haven't read Kingsolver's book yet, but it's on my list… I too have been taking baby steps in this direction. I'm fortunate to have year-round farmers markets in my area, so I really have no excuse!
I believe the way we eat and where our food comes from offers a lot of opportunities to think about discipleship, justice, etc.