The food we eat

When it comes to food in the States, I would call myself an informed and conscious consumer.  I choose to not eat meat and make an effort to eat locally when I can.  It really wasn’t until I got to Uganda, read some books, and looked around for a second that I realized just how little I really knew about any of the food I was eating.  I know to some people this may seem irrelevant, or even a bit silly, but when it comes down to it are there many things more important than the food that you nourish your body with??

Growing up in Kansas City didn’t really offer me that many opportunities to see where the food I was eating came from.  My dad planted tomatoes every summer and I specifically remember my Grandpa having a massive garden, but other than that I can’t really say that I have really observed the entire process of seedling to vegetable.  We I used to run the back roads in the Fall in Maryville I was always amazed to see the corn grow week by week.  In my mind what I eat is somehow far from what is growing out of the ground.  For some reason it has always intrigued me that there are still humans that have to get out and plant the seeds and then later harvest the crop.  I am well aware of the fact that machines do a majority of the work, but it still comes down to the farmers work.

And work it is... let me tell you.  As I began to plan my garden I had to begin by deciding which seeds I would plant (This was basically decided for me seeing as mommy-dear sent me seedlings from the States).   Then was the decision of how exactly to plant them.  Questions like: Heaped or Rows?  Deep or Shallow?  Nursery bed or Garden? All had to be answered.  I answered most of them by simply guessing… or reading the back of the seed packets.  After that I had to plan what I call the “garden design”.  And then I actually had to do the work.  Let me tell you that gardening with a hoe is some of the most backbreaking and rewarding work I have ever done.  I was pretty nervous about planting the seeds… it all seemed suspiciously easy at that point.  Drop the seed in the ground, cover with loose soil, add some water.  Why don’t more people do this??  But as the days went by I realized my fatal flaws.  I had planted at the beginning of the “wet” season, but due to many things the wet season isn’t really as wet or as early as it used to be.  This equaled me hauling jerry cans of water down to the garden to my little seedlings wouldn’t be parched. 

Then came the weeding.  I have come to the conclusion that this may be my favorite part of the whole gardening process, only that I have no clue what I am doing.  I headed down to attack those stubborn weeds and realized that I had no idea which ones were the weeds and which ones were seedlings I had planted.  And really they all look about the same.  So I just started pulling up things that didn’t look quite right.  I am pretty sure I ruined a few good squash seedlings and maybe even some eggplant, but overall I think I dominated the weeds.

And now I wait…..  and wait…. And wait…..  It has actually been three weeks since I first planted my little seeds and I am getting a bit anxious.  Doesn’t it seem like things should be bearing their fruit by now??  Negative.  It takes almost 2 1/2 months to 3 ½ months for most of these veggies to be ready to eat.  Can you imagine that something you nonchalantly grab in the produce aisle and stick in your shopping cart took that much work??  And you pay mere cents for it.

To let you all know what I planted, here is a list:

●   Watermelon

●   Jalapeno

●   Cherry tomatoes

●   Big-Boy tomatoes

●   Green pepper

●   Snap peas

●   Eggplant

●   Pumpkin

●   Yellow squash

●   Green squash

●   Avocado (Okay, I really didn’t plant this one, but there is a huge tree in my backyard that I climb to get my avo’s so I think I can consider it mine.)

My only worry is that they will all come up at the same time and I will have this massive cornucopia of food and only one mouth to feed.  Luckily for me, I live in Uganda where it is perfectly acceptable and usually expected to share your abundant crops with the people you care about (I have veggies left on my door step all of the time.  Sometimes I am thoroughly baffled at what one thinks I will do with 12 avocados).  So the roles will reverse and I will finally get to bestow upon my neighbors gifts of peppers and tomatoes, peas and pumpkin.  Can’t even wait.

On a similar but somewhat different note, I just finished reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma.  It’s a great book that everyone should read (its not trying to convince you to be a vegetarian).  It simply recounts our relationship, or lack their of, with our food.  In it is a chapter about the fact that food is seasonal but that rarely affects us because of imports.  The idea of seasonal food is a concept that most Americans aren’t capable of wrapping their minds around.  The fact that we can get mangoes, corn, and tomatoes year round isn’t because they are ever-plentiful but simply because we import them from exotic places and pay a lot of money for them.  Uganda doesn’t do that (As you could have well guessed).  The tomatoes that I eat for lunch everyday are probably grown a mere mile from my house and it is my guess that not an ounce of fuel is used in harvesting them or transporting them to the market.  The corn I eat for dinner is grown just down the way.  I saw them hand picking the rest of the harvest last week.  Talk about local.

I walked to the market a few days ago looking for an eggplant.  The lady at the market informed me that the eggplants were “over”.  I inquired as to what she meant and she said they were all gone until next season.  My poor Americanized mind was so very confused…. Wait.  Eggplants have seasons?  And at some point there are just none left in country and therefore I can’t eat them?  Strange. 

Not even two days later I was walking up to my neighbors house to get milk from her cow for my dog.  I met her outside and she informed me that there was no milk.  I assumed it was because she hadn’t milked the cow yet, but she then told me it was because the cow was done milking. Hmmmm…..  Cows can be done milking?  I thought it just simply kept coming as long as you were milking it.  My guess is that she wants it to have another calf and has to stop milking it to be fertile again??  (All you people that live on farms, i.e. Aunt Barb, Chels, etc. please fill me in on this.)  So regardless of the reason there is no more milk from her and I now have to walk an extra mile and a half to get fresh milk.  Now this is no burden on me, for I have all the time in the world.  But it is strange to think that anyone back home can simply go to the grocery store and get as much milk as they could possibly want… cold… pasteurized… skim…. Because cows always produce milk…. Right???

By the way, enjoy eating your dinner tonight…. It’s probably traveled farther in its short life than you have in the past month. J (And also go out and buy the Omnivore’s Dilemma…. Good, good book.)

And if you get the urge to write me an e mail... tell me all about what you ate this week.  It will probably be unbearable and I might tear up, but then hopefully I will have dreams about it and I can live vicariously through you.