As we begin the slow descent into the haze of holidays today, I know all our lives will get busier, mine included, so less blog time is good for all. I promise I won’t forget about you all, and will be posting family recipes of all kinds, and keeping you in the loop on the latest food news.
For now, let’s have a low-key quiet blog day honoring the spirit of giving that this season is all about, whatever holidays you celebrate. In both his regular column, and on his blog this week, Mark Bittman has many wonderful food-related gift ideas that would work for anyone on your list still in need of a gift.
I’ll highlight this one first: his blog post rounds up a number of worthy and reliable food-related charities for giving. These are organizations working for systematic change, the kinds of real, large-scale change that will be necessary to transform our food system into the local, sustainable one we all envision as our future. They deserve our support.
Bittman’s regular column includes some wonderful ideas to give the gift of food to non-cooks. As so many of you, in whatever various stages of changing your diet, eating, or buying habits know, the switch to a healthier, whole-foods based eating style is tricky, especially if you don’t think of yourself as a kitchen talent. These ideas will help bring more of your loved ones into the foodie fold.
I especially love the suggestions for the joint cooking & shopping lesson, and for the CSA share. These are gifts that last more than just a day, or a meal, gifts that teach something in the process, and often times, gifts that give to more than just the recipient, but also to their local food-shed, who has well earned our support this year.
Happy, Happy Solstice everyone. The light is beginning to return.
Once the New Year hits, I plan to do some post tackling typical resolution ideas, too — the kind that will help you make sustainable life changes, rather than take up temporary fads, so if you have any resolutions you’re thinking about taking on that you’d like to share to see me write a future post on, leave a comment or drop me an email anytime.
When I was twenty years old, I watched PETA’s “Meet Your Meat” in a rhetoric class and became a vegetarian. Seven years later, I decided to start eating meat again–for ethical reasons. This blog is about that journey and all its complications, from the humane treatment of animals to labor rights and global poverty, from radical feminist cooking to local, sustainable, affordable recipes. But most of all, it’s about community, about the kitchen as the place where we all sit down together and eat.
I don’t like resolutions, but I got the Ninja Kitchen System Pulse for Christmas, so I’ve been making a fruit and vegetable smoothie every day to get in the extra servings.