January was all about Roots. Edible roots, radical roots. Mark and Bee had been struck down with flu, so we talked medicine soups and lemon and ginger tea, before doing our seasonal round-up of local veg and recipes. I had just visited the Grapes Hill Community Garden where Jeremy had told me about the hardy and delicious Andean winter roots, oca and mashui. I grow oca, said Erik and produced some equally South American yacon roots out of his knapsack, like a rabbit out of a hat. (You can read about our Strictly Roots exchange here. ) Afterwards we watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's C4 documentary about the crazy fishing quota system in the North Sea. It was the first time I had watched television in 16 years.
January was a fierce month for campaigns. There were campaigns for every kind of creature under duress from the industrial food system: bees, fish, cows (Nocton superdairy), pigs (vast American-style factory farm). Even though the perils of growing and eating food under these conditions are well-documented, the system keeps pushing against nature for greater and greater profit and control.But some of us are starting to push back and gain momentum. What we do in the Cookbook sessions is to pay attention to these big issues and align them with our own small-scale carbon-reduction eating habits. No point, as Kerry pointed out, in knowing this stuff if you're not acting on it. Who would listen to us?
This month we're meeting at Bee's to discuss the writing part of the project (and not get too distracted by campaigns and cooking). If you would like to join us contact Charlotte Du Cann at rootsshootsandseeds@hotmail.co.uk
Photo: supper with sweet potato, Arizona 2001; Greenpeace poster.
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