This week’s tasting lab was set up by Jessica with sourcing help from Kotomi and Kat who made a wildcrafted salad before class started. We had the privilege to enjoy posole served with red/green chiles and tortillas embellished with cilantro, cheese, and lime. The salad was comprised of spinach, kale, wood sorrel, chives, Oregon grape flowers, oregano, rosemary, olive oil and liquid aminos.

Jessica asked us about the importance in knowing the birthplace/history of our foods and how knowing this changes or doesn’t change our perception of them. I want to know the food comes from a good place when I don’t have time to intentionally seek out food with humble, humane origins. I also don’t want to know where the food comes from if I do not have time to intentionally seek out food and I need to eat. Reflecting on this has inspired me to invest more time in making sure I am not in a position where I need to seek out food, rather than eat a snack and prepare a meal. This also brings up the issue of needing to work, and have a roof over my head. This inspired the realization that if organization is essential to uphold the principles I want to sustain myself, then organization regarding my meals needs to be sustained by having snacks when planning meals.

Jessica also asked us what our favorite comfort food was and what a comfort food actually is. This question immediately brought up a favorable memory, which was interconnected with a visit to Eugene where an old romantic partner and I went to a mexican restaurant that she was notorious at during the late hours. We were treated with the same gusto we brought forth and it was a grand time, or at least remembered as such. I skipped over an older memory of a coming to age experience with my father and my uncle on Mount Elbert in Colorado where we had been hit with an unexpected storm when we had our stuff sprawled out after hiking a few thousand feet in elevation. I got to see my uncle and dad in action, running around having fun while they stapled down the tent, my dad inside holding it down cause otherwise the wind would have picked up the tent and tumbled down the mountain. As I ran around outside grabbing all of the gear without any protection to throw into the tent I got much colder than I anticipated. As I was inside the tent pretending to be as tough as the seasoned veterans, my dad noticed my inability to admit how cold I was and got spooned back to sense in a sleeping bag. After shaking off some hypothermia I had some burnt spanish rice and it was the best meal I’ve ever had. Reflecting back on that experience, I understand the importance of trusting the people you are with, and how significant it is that you surround yourself with people you trust. If you can’t be honest with yourself, how can people honestly help you? If I hadn’t run around picking up all of our items, we wouldn’t have made it. Just like if there was no cover to get warm under, we wouldn’t have made it.