Thanksgiving is the holiday I adore the most. It's about exercising my culinary muscle while throwing all buckets of restraint down the drain. I was just 12 when I concocted my first Thanksgiving meal for the family, so I've had some practice. As I remember, I secured a butterball in a plastic bag, plopped canned beans in a creamy quagmire of mushroom soup topped off with French fried onions, then rehydrated a box of mashed potatoes... my how my culinary times have changed!
Even as the crepuscular light creeps further towards darkness, I am planning this year's feast. The tofurky is braising and the goose is brining, all the yams have been candied -- drunk on bourbon and organic marshmallows, while the fresh asparagus and olive salad lies crisping in the cooler. The braised greens and Israeli salad of turgid cucumber, carrot celery and tomato will be a refreshing compliment to the 21 gun salute of the main courses. Then the aftermath, a fine pippin tart will cool while the dough rises on sweet muffin-top hot cross buns, (I'll want two please).
This reverie of food preparation commences towards the great meal, which we will outlandishly and extravagantly partake. I have culinary and cultural beliefs on the state of our food, including the abundance we enjoy, the grace of the people who bring it to our table and immense gratitude for how far we have come in the good food movement.
Progress, dear pilgrims, is being been made. Just this year, Big Food has begun singing a different song, recognizing the consumer's disgust at ingredients that just don't belong in our food. Nestle and Kraft will be striking artificial flavors and colors from their chocolate candy and mac and cheese respectively. Dunkin' Donuts will brush off the nanoparticle titanium dioxide that made their frosting white. Subway and Tyson will stop using human antibiotics in their meats. McDonald's has served its first organic hamburger in Germany. General Mills has taken the GMO out of Cheerios. Campbell's is launching lines of certified organic children's soups, removing MSG and GMOs.
The cavalcade of good food victories is the grist of an ever-increasing bombardier of headlines. I am grateful for this shift. The good food movement is alive, shaping the bottom lines and brands of many big food companies!
As I take note of this shift, I set aside the headlines and feel the grace of the overarching abundance in this North American culinary existence. We have so much plenty and so many souls contribute to this wealth. I hold much gratitude for the farmers, the orchardists, the vintners and bakers. I give thanks for the retailers -- our front line soldiers, the food and farm workers -- never alien, but real hardworking salt of the earth that harvest, clean and pack and prepare our food. I hold deep appreciation for the long haul driver with long red-eye nights "truckin'" to bring that bounty cross continent. I think of the forklift drivers, the customs broker and the salespeople, they all play a part in bringing a myriad of ingredients to my table. We must raise a toast to every one of those who have a hand in this copious culinary plenty. (If you are one, give yourself a hand.)
We eat in a world of amazing abundance, and the good food movement is quickening, but our work is certainly not done. Once the meal has been properly consummated and brought to titillation, and before the torpor of the aftermath sets in, let's assign grace to the work we have yet in our future. We must labor to secure more funding for organic farming and seed production. We must fund projects that allow easy access to land for beginning farmers and ranchers. We must protect biodiversity in the landscape as well as through our foundation seeds. It's time that the government fully regulates, tests and labels foods with GMOs. Our labor includes driving many of the cruel factory farming practices out of animal husbandry. Ultimately, we must bring to light the true cost of real food and the hidden costs associated with cheap food.
So let's celebrate this day of gratitude fully realizing all that we have, recognizing those who have helped bring it forward while noting the progress we have made and the work still to do. The good food movement is growing; as you partake of this Thanksgiving know that you are an instrumental part of moving it forward.
Enjoy a delicious holiday.
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