Slow Food

Most everyone is use to the concept of fast food, but from my experience most people don't think as much about slow food. I find it very refreshing that there is an organization out there trying to promote the idea of something as simple as sitting down to a meal that is cooked from quality ingredients.

I've been thinking about this alot lately since I read the book Coming Home to Eat, and also because one my favorite things to do with friends here in DC is have dinner parties. When I stop by the farmer's market to buy a loaf of bread, some vegetables, or cheese, I am surrounded by people who have taken time out of their day specifically to visit the market; these are mostly people who are there not because food was a last minute thought on the way home, but because they took time out of their day to look for ingredients.

Some how it just feels right to be picking your food out of baskets at a booth under the open sky. It's nice to be able to ask questions of the people who grew the food you are about to buy instead of asking a sales clerk whose job it is to stock cans and make sure the zuccini gets sprayed down at 10:30, 12:30, and 2:30. It's also nice to know that the food you're buying was grown and produced within a short driving distance of the market. This isn't food that was grown halfway around the world, packaged across the country and shipped in a train to your city. I still shop at grocery stores for some of my food, truth be told I still shop at grocery stores for MOST of my food. I'm simply trying to describe the difference in feeling I get from shopping at a farmer's market versus at a grocery store.

When I turn the oven on and put some bread in to toast, when I heat up a skillet with oil and butter to sautee vegetables, when I start soup stock simmering in a pot there is a feeling simplicity associated with it. I know that people have been doing this for thousands of years. I know that people have been using these same ingredients and same basic techniques forever. I can't really explain why that feels good but it does. And when you add other people to the mix it becomes even better.

We all have to eat. There was a time when extended families, all living under the same roof, would set aside what they were doing and come together to break bread. This communal sharing of a necessity such as eating became the basis for many celebrations and festivals. The Israelites were told to commemorate the sparing of their first born in Egypt with a very special feast, when Jesus sat down with his disciples for the last time it was during this same feast; here Christ once more consecrated the simple acts of eating and drinking. We breath all day without ceasing, when we sleep we are alone with our thoughts, the one other physical requirement we have is an activity that we do at set times throughout the day and may be shared with brothers and sisters. It seems that because it is the one absolutely essential activity in life that happens at discrete times throughout the day, this one has been given special prominence, this one can be done in community.

The next time you have a chance, sit down and really SHARE a meal with those you care for. Take time preparing the meal, letting the aromas of food draw everyone present into the anticipation of the eating. Really be present with the other people around the table. Be a part of each other's day. Slow down for a minute.