Tasting Week 6

As you eat the root vegetable hash with kale rabe and the mixed spring salad, please consider how you’ve managed to feed yourself in hard times. What resourcefulness have you found yourself resorting to in times where you may not have had enough money to buy the ingredients you wished to have, or times when you haven’t had the proper space to prepare a meal? How do you feed yourself? How do you stretch out your money, while at the same time providing your body with the energy and nutrition it needs to get you through the day? Do you ever go without eating? Do you ever go to sleep hungry because you lack the means for a proper meal? How many of the ingredients/recipes we use on a regular basis have their roots in poor-agrarian communities?

One of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten was “cream of cancoction” I don’t really remember what went into it, except it was a mix of the last of the canned food that we had.

I have been really fortunate enough to always be able to feed myself and have enough to share-even if it isn’t appetizing. I come into contact daily with people who do not have enough to eat though. I find myself always looking for alternative ways to provide nourishment.

One thing we talk about in this country is people on welfare or foodstamps. We don’t talk enough about  how to help working people. The minimum wage does not provide enough for people to be able to feed themselves anything all of the time, much less feed themselves well. There are many people who don ‘t qualify for assistance simply because they have a job. They are the working poor.

There are also the migrant farm workers that come to mind. They are producing our food daily, but don’t have access to the same nutrition. This is why I started Cascadia Cares. We provide food and assistance without proof of income or citizenship. We simply work to feed  hungry people.