Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving: Calories for the Soul


Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday.  On this day we celebrate nothing more than family, food, and friends.  The tradition of eating native foods like turkey, Cranberries (Oxycoccus spp.), and others explicitly recognizes the ecological communities that nourish us.  These lessons solidified in my mind about 12 years ago when my best friend Sam (www.foragersharvest.com) began hosting a completely wild food Thanksgiving.  The venison roast, mashed Wapato, and Wild Rice were not only incredibly delicious—as we ate, we listened to Sam tell us where he had harvested each food and we honored the land with our conversation—they nourished us in a much more profound way.

For many people, the food element of Thanksgiving has become abstracted with store bought, industrially produced, agricultural commodities, which have little connection to land, a particular ecosystem, or the sacred act of human harvest.  While I always long to be back at Sam’s table for Thanksgiving, this will be the first year in several that I am able to spend the Holiday with my own family.  I will bring some of my best wild edibles to the table and in the spirit of Sam, share some calories for the soul.
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