Monday, May 2, 2011

A Good Read and A Good Listen

While running multiple errands in the car this morning, I had a chance to hear most of a radio interview with Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple and her new book The Chicken Chronicles) as she spoke about 'life's lessons' she has learned after recently beginning to care for her own backyard chickens.

In addition, when I got home, I saw the Washington Post article Why Being a Foodie Isn't Elitist, written by Eric Schlosser (author A Fast Food Nation).

Each author uses different words but is conveying the same message, which is (I'm using my own words now) 'to think about and care about the source of your food and to value the life (lives) sacrificed for your nourishment'.

I want to listen to Alice Walker's interview again, so I'll get out my Christmas i-Pod and (again) figure out how to download a podcast.

The blessing that my husband and I frequently say before meals gives thanks to all life and all hands involved with bringing our food from farm to fork. Eric Schlosser and Alice Walker help us remember to not only be grateful for our food but both thoughtful and compassionate, too.

Each of us is voting multiple times per day for the world we wish to see with the choice of the food we purchase, grow, and eat. I am voting for 'good food for all' as many times as possible. I am not exactly sure what a 'foodie' is or if I consider myself to be one, but by no stretch of the imagination do I consider myself 'elitist'. I am voting for the common good.

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD 

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