Whew!

Here it is: my inaugural food blog entry. It took me a few hours to come up with a blog address and name—everything I tried was already taken. Apparently a lot of people are blogging about food on blogspot. And, to quote Martha Stewart, that's a good thing.

Why do I want to blog about food? Well, because I spend large quantities of my time thinking about food (everything from growing, preparing and eating food to the social and political aspects such as genetically modified ingredients and other issues of food safety, food scarcity, advocacy, nutrition, etc.) I could go on and on. And I will.

But I'd like to start by first asking you to slow down with your food. Slow. Way. Down. Create space for mealtime. Turn off the tv or the computer, sit down and take in the aromas, the flavors, the textures of the food before you. Regardless of what you're eating, give yourself space to really smell, taste and feel the affects this food has on you.

This is the beginning. But so much is contained right there in cultivating that awareness. Start thinking about what journey this food took to be at your table (Was it from your garden? A local farm? A farm 100 miles away? A farm 1,000 or more miles away?) Ask yourself about the resources used to grow this food, the machinery used to process this food, the packaging used to contain this food, the marketing used to sell this food, etc. Now ask yourself what nutrients this food brings you. And if you don't know the answers to these questions, I encourage you to start looking for them. Because you may be shocked at what you find.

Stay tuned. I'll be posting links to all sorts of resources. I'll even throw in a recipe from time to time. My wish is this: May all people everywhere be nourished.