Day 201 -- The Value Of Food

Over the past week, I've been blessed with an abundance of fresh produce.  Beets, onions, beans and peas from my father's garden.  Strawberries fresh picked and given to me by a friend.  And cherries from a tree in my backyard (it's been a banner year for cherries).  But with this fresh produce came the necessity to pick and clean and store and prepare it.  I pitted cherries, shelled peas, hulled strawberries, separated beets from their edible tops.  And the more I did of this work, the more I realized what our ancestors had to go through just to put a meal on the table.

We're so used to walking into a supermarket, snatching up produce that's already cleaned and even chopped up, to use for our meals.  Meat is neatly packaged, veggies frozen, pies made.  And because food has become so simple, I think we've lost touch with the value and the meaning of what we eat.  When it takes time to make our food edible, it becomes so much more valuable.  It took me two hours to shell a couple cups of peas, but when I ate them I appreciated the value of them much more than those that I dump out of a bag from the freezer.

Of all the things I've learned in my half year as a vegan, I think this has been the most important.  I'm so very careful not to waste food.  If something is getting a little past prime in my fridge, I find a way to use it.  I don't let it spoil (except for lettuce, I can't seem to eat that fast enough).  And that makes me happy, that I'm taking only what I need and leaving the rest for others.  I'm satisfied with that.