Barbara Kingsolver has written a book entitled Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I read recently. It chronicles an agrarian year in the life of her family as they raised their own food, ate seasonably and bought locally from others of similar mind in the rural south of the USA.

If we raise our own food, eat seasonably and buy locally as much as possible, we can avoid a reliance on the chemically dependent, energy consumptive and nutritionally depleted industrial food production process. We all know the difference between a tomato fresh out of a garden and those pale, tasteless, counterfeit slices that appear in restaurant salads after arriving in a large truck from far away.

I noticed a small sign posted in the produce section of the grocery store recently. It said, “You are advised to rinse produce for several minutes under warm water before consuming.”

It is not to remove dirt. We are used to rinsing dirt off produce purchased at the farmer’s market such as the wonderfully fresh asparagus that is now in season.

We are told that “we are what we eat.” The question to ask when we sit down to a meal is, “Did the food on my plate have a healthy and happy life?”

If it did, chances are we will. If it did not, then perhaps “we eat what we are.” Food is autobiographical.

We can only answer the question by knowing the food source. I was raised on a farm. Our meat came from contented pigs, cows and chickens that lived in wide open spaces. Our vegetables came from a large, well tended garden and our fruit from our orchard with the occasional worm as a testimonial to the lack of pesticides.

“Where does food come from?” is as fundamental a question as “Where do babies come from?” To be stumped for a clear and informative answer that would give even a child a level of understanding should be embarrassing for us.

I was surprised once by a well-educated colleague who asked, “Where do hams come from?” I worry, despite the fun that followed about little animals called hams running about wild in the forest.

“Where do you get your pork?” I asked the man at the little sausage shop we discovered recently. He paused and looked at me as if that was the first time the question had been raised. I thought momentarily, with some discomfort, that I had stumped him.

He quickly assured me that his source was a friend of many years who ran a small and very clean operation just outside of the city. It did not involve growth enhancement and animal suffering.

I decided this summer to plant vegetable and herb seeds in containers usually reserved for flowers along with reclaiming space in a flowerbed for further seeding. It is my effort to connect with my roots.

I am also taking greater advantage the farmer’s markets that are available almost every day of the week in Edmonton. The source of our food includes the actual people who have sweated and dirtied their hands as they work at growing and raising it.

While purchasing fresh food at the markets, there is the opportunity to chat amicably and directly with the growers as we hand over the money they have so deservingly earned. It helps to make our relationship with food a very personal experience, as it should be.

© C O P Y R I G H T   2 0 0 9.  Gary Holdgrafer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.