“A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes.”
“The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared food, confronts inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality. ”
— Wendell Berry
AUTHOR AND FARMER
As the result of a birthday gift to Alan from very good friends (and friends of RMH), we had the privilege of seeing Wendell Berry in person, interviewed by Michael Pollan.
Mr. Berry, a prolific writer, poet and farmer in Kentucky, has been advocating the importance of agrarianism in contributing to a healthy and balanced life and community.
The Wikipedia page about him distills his essential philosophy down to the listing in the following quote, and, though I’m not entirely trusting of the site, the statement resonates with my limited understanding of the man’s work:
“According to Berry, the good life includes sustainable agriculture, appropriate technologies, healthy rural communities, connection to place, the pleasures of good food, husbandry, good work, local economics, the miracle of life, fidelity, frugality, reverence, and the interconnectedness of life. The threats Berry finds to this good life include: industrial farming and the industrialization of life, ignorance, hubris, greed, violence against others and against the natural world, the eroding topsoil in the United States, global economics, and environmental destruction.”
He was advocating for a connection to land and the source of our food—local, organic, sustainable—decades ago. And yet, I must say he is remarkably humble and unassuming about it—it’s a way of life and not primarily a political movement (though he certainly believes in using the political process to make change).
As I have said elsewhere on our site, there is something meaningful & natural—“organic” if you will—about a renewed interest in how we eat and our affect on the land. And yet, for me, there the caveat that over politicizing this belief or turning it into the cause of the moment, perhaps becoming overly militant about it, is counter-constructive and violates the very principles of the ideas at its core.
Wendell Berry seems to me to advocate a set of basic ideas in the ongoing journey to improve our lives and the community and place where we live.
I was particularly stuck by his discussion of “urban agrarianism” (a topic he plans to address more in future writings) which I paraphrase loosely as finding ways in a non-rural environment to connect more with issues relating to fields or lands or their tenure—specifically farming and the sources of our food—for example, shopping at farmer’s markets or stores that source from local sources; joining a farm cooperative and having fresh, locally-grown produce brought to your house; or simply planting a tomato plant in a pot.
So, I got to thinking a bit more about food and our efforts here such as our cooking experiences and winemaker dinners, and it seemed many people want to connect more to food through how they eat—heirlooms, just-picked food, locally-raised food, farm-to-table, etc.
Hence, Culinary Agrarianism…and that is the Word (to quote Stephen Colbert).
