Family Dinners and Disappearing Values

My favorite way to spend family gatherings, second only to playing hide and seek, various sports, and indoor and outdoor (sometimes made-up) games with my cousins, was crowding around the kitchen. Okay, maybe it was a tie with playing cards. But still. Growing up we spent a lot of time with my mom’s side of the family since my grandparents lived within five minutes of us and my cousins visited regularly. Few activities are more fun than wedging your way into a kitchen full of Italian-Americans talking and cooking.

Reading chapter nine in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle brought back memories and starting me thinking once again. Kingsolver writes about the value in a shared family meal and cooking from scratch. I didn’t realize it was rare to sit down to dinner with your family or to spend weeknights at home until I went to college and learned that many people did not know family dinners and spent most nights with friends. I’m enjoying all the time Kingsolver spends ruminating on food culture and all its extensions.

We’re on a tight budget, by choice mostly. We take as much joy in buying fruits and vegetables and eating healthy food as some people do in going to the movies or bowling or whatever is the activity du jour. This past weekend we took advantage of the grand opening sales at Sunflower Farmers Market. We, and throngs of people, were like giddy children going from one item to the next, amazed at the prices and variety of food. We didn’t even make it to the other half of the store.

Unfortunately, the more I read of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the more I realize the process of changing and establishing new food habits will take time and money. Most of what she writes is not new to any awake person. However, her book convinces me to finally take the plunge, that it’s worth it. I’d rather spend money on food than on clothes (although, that’s a no brainer for a shopping-detester like myself). But it will take continued research to find quality food. It’s scary to think of what goes into to our food. A good friend told me on Friday that the insides of babies contain pure, perfect organs and parts, but you have to cut through the thick layer of fat to get to adult organs which are surrounded by all sorts of grime and grossness. If that’s not motivation enough to eat better, I don’t know what is.

Of course, the issue of food (organic, local, healthy, time-consuming, from scratch) is counter-cultural, as are most worthwhile pursuits. But I want to take time now to build a life that lives in tension with our culture and embraces disappearing values. But that is another topic for another time.