I work at a food pantry that supplies fresh produce and
non-perishables for countless individuals and families. Just today we
had 18 clients visit us in just an hour and a half! These clients range
from individuals and couples to families of 6 or more. They are all
shapes and sizes, ethnicities, personalities and so on. There is rarely a
dull day at our pantry.
That is even more true now. A local
grocery store chain, embattled in a family feud, has had managers walk
of the job (and some have been fired subsequently) and workers
protesting outside stores. Produce deliveries and stock shipments have
either been delayed or haven't arrived at all in some locations. No one
to stock the shelves and produce means that fruits and vegetables that
has been cultivated for weeks, likely harvested by migrant workers, and
trucked to these locations are now rotting in the crates. CRATES full of
produce going to waste- all over a family feud. (Now, I'm not part
of the family and I'm not a native loyal customer so pardon me if it
feels like I'm dismissing a family's clearly troubled relations. I don't
discredit that its not a pleasant situation for anyone.)
Through
divine intervention, I'm sure of it, local gardeners and other pantries
have dropped off their unused abundance. We have huge zucchini, loads
of summer squash, lettuce heads, kale leaves, and 4-5 bunches of both
radishes and turnips. We already had the very last of our dwindling
supply of tomatoes and potatoes out so we ended up with a nice
assortment.
We, as a society, have let so much get in between us
and our food. Our clients rely on our pantry to supplement their
groceries and we can't provide our best service to them because of a
third party. How many more family feuds will result in crates of produce
wasted? How many miles do peppers have to fly just so we can have bell
peppers whenever we want, whether they're in season or not? When we
start to become so dependent on our broken food system we put ourselves
in a sticky situation.
Instead of flying bell peppers in from
Holland (I checked the stickers on the peppers at one of the local
grocery chains), maybe we eat seasonally. (Holland- they are flown in from Holland!)
Instead of relying on grocery store chains, maybe we can have little
backyard gardens that supply a small portion of our weekly produce. The
food system, that has become so distant to Americans, would seem a lot
more humble and personal.
Let us, as a spiritual discipline, begin to take back our food system and make it personal again.
