Our Daily Bread

Tonight Sarah and I agreed that, while we spend less money eating locally, we spend more time preparing and preserving food. I'm probably exaggerating but it seems that every minute I've not spent at work or working or studying has been occupied by food. I'm not complaining--not exactly--but at this moment the biggest allure of non-local, commercial, processed food is its casual simplicity. There's a part of me that wants to grab a bag of peanuts off the shelf and chow down, without worry about where they came from or spending hours preparing them.

I know all the reasons why we're not eating this way, of course. I know that convenience for the end consumer is purchased at every other stage of the production chain. I know that some of those purchase costs are represented in the supermarket price tag but many of them--environmental, economic, health, even spiritual costs--are not. I know all this but when I'm tired from a week at work I find it a little hard to care.

When she spoke at EMU last week Mary Beth Lind, one of the authors of our favorite Simply in Season cookbook, encouraged us to think of activity surrounding food--its consumption, yes, but also its preparation, preservation, even planting--as a spiritual exercise. When I keep that in mind I'm grateful that Sarah and I are spending more time on our daily bread. It nourishes more than our bodies.