Solstice Sustenance

Sicilian alter of light....

The winter solstice marks the shortest day & longest night of the year...it is a time to consider our relationship to the sun and all of the energy its light provides; light energy that makes possible life on earth.  

Though today is also the first calendar day of winter, we've been in full snow mode for quite a while here in the upper Midwest.  Its times like these when our food traditions just seem to make both poetic and actual sense--our bodies crave the nourishing hearty greens, root vegetables, winter squash, and other "good keepers" like apples, onions, shallots, and so on that have graced larders for centuries.  All those foods that have undergone the remarkable process of storing up the sun's energy so that we can be fed.

Having recently returned from Terra Madre, Slow Food's international meeting in Italy, I was fortunate to learn about many different countries food traditions.  Here in the Great Lakes region, winter fruit and veg are part of our food heritage and the joy of eating in place. As a cook and a dietitian, I encourage people to eat their veggies all year round...not just because  they are good for us, but because they taste divine.  Earlier this morning I visited the Wake Up team on Fox 6 for Get Active Today to share some of my favorite seasonal produce recipes to celebrate the season.  You can watch the clip below and get the recipes here.

Happy Terra Madre Day 2010

From a letter to Slow Food WiSE chapter contacts:

Terra Madre Day, December 10th, is the day the worldwide Slow Food community has set aside to celebrate our connections to the land; terra madre; mother earth. This is a day to reflect on our relationships to food and community and on ways we can deepen these relationships.

This October, I was honored to attend Terra Madre—Slow Food’s biennial meeting in Turin, Italy. From our own food community, Larry and Sharon Adams of Walnut Way, and myself, a dietitian and good food advocate, joined the more than 6,000 delegates, from over 150 countries. Small producers, chefs, farmers, fishers, educators, and activists, came together to connect, share stories, and strengthen their voices through the collective, international work. Over sixty meetings and workshops took place at Terra Madre, exploring subjects such as Food Policy, Sustainable Education, Healthy Food in Schools, Eco-Friendly Farming, Fair Trade, Agro-biodiversity, Food Sovereignty, Hunger & Poverty, Slow Fish, Cooks & Places, the Youth Food Movement, and so much more. The experience was, in short, amazing.

I ran into other Wisconsinites, such as Chef Dan Fox of the Madison Club, and Joe Sabol of Sabol Family Farm, in the bustling halls of Terra Madre. And while next door at the Salone del Gusto, an incredible exposition hall of place-based foods from around the world, I was delighted to find a larger than life picture of my friend and past delegate, Martha Davis Kipcak, former Slow Food WiSE chapter leader, current Slow Food Regional Governor, and food activist, along with a prescient quote, “To act locally means to know your community and be a part of it.” This led me to think about other past delegates from our community—chef Dave Swanson of Braise, urban farmer Will Allen of Growing Power, farmer Jeff Preder of Jeff-Leen Farms, farmer Katie Bjorkman of Earth Harvest Farm, and student (at the time) Lianna Bishop, now of Slow Food WiSE & Center for Resilient Cities. All people devoted to creating a good, clean, and fair food system, here and beyond.

Terra Madre is not just a simple meeting or conference. It is a network of people from around the globe working together to create a united voice in support of transforming the way we eat. “Food is life. Food is us,” said an Ethiopian elder at the Opening Ceremony. On this Terra Madre day, if not every day, we can take time to remember this concept because food is life. Happy Terra Madre Day to you and yours!

If you’d like to talk about Terra Madre, food traditions, or biodiversity, please contact me at jcasey@slowfoodwise.org.

Peace,
Jennifer Casey

Read more about Terra Madre.