Eating Integrity

Eating Integrity
by Kelly Kingsland, Moscow Food Co-op newsletter volunteer

The other day while I was pushing my gas powered lawn mower around (and around) my large lawn I contemplated my local diet. In light of the blaring noise, and puff of smoke emitting from the mower, my actions seem pretty futile. Especially for someone like me who eats something like an 80 percent local diet year round, the net gain in reduced imports is fairly insignificant.

So as I continued circling my machine towards my ultimate goal- a strangely satisfying shortly mown expanse that I consider my yard, I asked myself why I had taken the Local Challenge. Was it hope? Did I think I could change the world through my actions? Was it sacrifice? Was I giving up eating imported foods as some sort of offering- paying for my own or others' carbon spewing transgressions? Was I just following a national fad- locavorism is reaching a fever pitch in some circles across the country. What was motivating me anyway?

I ruled out hope right away. I am a pessimist, and through that lens think that with our current global population and consumptive addictions, pure inertia ought to easily propel us deeply and irreversibly into climate crisis- seemingly during my lifetime if you listen to some scientists. In a non biblical way, I actually believe that we are approaching the “end times” and certainly I don't see my local diet as any method of changing that course.

What about sacrifice? Am I giving up things that I love to eat in order to somehow justify my periodic airplane flights to see family, or my more frequent drives to wilderness to backpack? Am I running some internal form of carbon trade, exchanging this summer’s resisted chocolate bars for next winter’s flight to see family in Florida? I do have a deep desire to walk lightly on this planet. And I carry a bit of guilt at being American-a member of a great consuming culture that will go down in history (if there is history) as the most destructive ever. But I'm not a martyr and don't think I can right the world by forfeiting pleasure.

What about fad? Am I just doing this because everyone else is? Generally I am not very faddish, but a fad that is about NOT buying something does have its appeal. But no, while it does feel good to share convictions with the likes of Barbra Kingsolver, Gary Paul Nabhan and Michael Pollan, I have been on this kick for many years, and have come to my own conclusions about what side of the fence I want to stand on.

Having ruled out hope, sacrifice and fad, I realized that I am eating a local diet because it feels good. In addition to feeling really great physically when I quit eating sugar, chips, chocolate, and dairy products, the local diet fills me with a sense of integrity. Not righteousness, integrity. It feels good to step away from the constant and dire implications of our consumptive habits. Rather than approaching meals with a sense of guilt and acquiescence I see mindful action at work. As I fill my body with vegetables, meat and fruit that have been produced locally I feel as if I am not only nourishing my body, but also my relationship to the earth and other living beings that live here with me. Whether it reduces my carbon footprint, or buys me a trip to the wilderness or not, I like eating integrity.

One of Kelly Kingsland's current favorite local meals is steamed Artichokes with garlic aioli, Pickle Flat Farm grass fed beef burger with homemade catsup, and braised cabbage and beets. We're not missing much at all.

We know beans...

I just read an entire book about beans and was inspired to cook split pea soup this weekend, since these lovely little green babies hail from here on the Palouse. For some reason in our house we refer to this by its color – “green soup” – probably because when Reed was little he was in an anti-pea phase and I thought the words split pea would put him off– and it is generally a favorite, probably due to the generous amount of bacon in which I saute’ the diced onion and carrots before adding the water and the dried split peas and bay leaves. The only other ingredients are salt and pepper, although I have been known to make this with chicken stock in the past. This time I didn’t yet have chicken stock so used plain water, without using a bouillon cube or anything, and surprisingly I found I liked the lighter, less salty flavor of it; it was cleaner and fresher on my tongue. So I might stick with water for green soup in the future.

The other legumes we grow here are chickpeas/garbanzos and lentils. This next weekend our church (Community Congregational United Church of Christ) in Pullman is doing a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser. I’m planning the food and using chickpeas as my starting point I’ve planned a Mediterranean-style menu: pitas, hummus, couscous, tabbouleh, vegetable and lamb stew, cucumber salad, etc. Lots of tomatoes, eggplant, onions, olive oil, and lemon juice. Of course, lemons and olives don’t grow here, but being strictly local is not the point of this fundraiser – thinking about the rest of humanity is the point, and I think olive oil is a great place to start doing that.