I sat down to dinner last night feeling quite proud of myself. That lasted all of about 30 seconds. I was proud of myself because I’d found time to make a dinner from scratch that my family really likes – pizza. But then I realized that, technically, to make something from scratch, you have to start from nothing. Ha! A laughable notion! I began thinking about just how much I started with, and how many people and places went into the food I “made from scratch.” Out of curiosity, I even looked at some labels to see where things came from. Here’s what I came up with (and by the way, I live in a northwest suburb of Chicago):

water – Lake Michigan
whole wheat flour – Ted’s Organic Grains in DeKalb, IL
white flour – no idea where it came from, and I no longer have the packaging
canola oil – Canada
salt – U.S.A. (where, precisely? Anyone know where our salt comes from?)
yeast – Canada
parmesan and romano cheese blend – Argentina and Italy
olive oil – Italy
spinach – Sandhill Organics in Grayslake, IL (part of my CSA box)
tomatoes – Canada (a surprise this time of year; I was expecting Mexico or Chile)
goat cheese – no idea and I no longer have the packaging

So, my dinner from “scratch” actually came from at least four countries on three continents, and with a surprisingly strong showing from Canada! And I’m fortunate enough that I can take all of this for granted. I had to look most of it up, and I still don’t know even what country two ingredients came from.

Then I thought about how many people helped make my pizza. How many people did it take to grow and harvest tomatoes, spinach, wheat, olives? How many people did it take to care for the goats and sheep, collect their milk, and turn it into cheeses? How many languages were spoken in the process? What are their lives like? How many people were involved in the packaging, distribution, and eventual stocking of those items? For that matter, how many people are involved in making the water out of Lake Michigan come out of my tap in a safe and appealing way?

Food ties us together in so many ways, and my sustenance – my life – is dependent upon so many others, most of whom I’ll never meet and often don’t even think about. I give thanks for them all, and proceed in the fight against hunger with the humility of knowing how lucky I am to be well-fed, and how much of my feeding I owe to others.

What did you eat for dinner last night? How many countries were represented? Please leave a comment. I’m curious!

-Nancy Michaelis

~ Lana

Sources:

• FAO – www.fao.org
• WHO – www.who.int; www.wssinfo.org
• USDA – www.usda.gov
• World Food Program – www.wfp.org

The hungry.  Hungry people. 

If you examine the structure of either of these references, you’ll notice that the primary emphasis is on the condition of being hungry.  In the case of the hungry, the word “people” isn’t even in the realm of consciousness.  “The hungry” serves as a defense mechanism, a way to categorize something that is undesirable and put it on a shelf at a safe distance so that we don’t have to feel a personal connection.  “The hungry” are simply out there…somewhere.  Nameless, faceless, and seemingly not even human or at least not deserving enough of a human reference. 

Photo by Paul Jeffrey/ACT International

Hungry people.  On the scale of objectification, this is better.  At least we are talking about people here, though again the emphasis is not on people but rather the condition of being hungry.  People comes last, and so psychologically our emphasis is still on fixing a condition rather than serving someone just like us—same age, same gender, same station in life relatively speaking—who happened to be born in a community or country where there are extremely limited resources. 

Let’s see if we can do better.  Okay, here’s one more attempt: 

People who are hungry.  Simply put, people come first.  We’re not trying to help feed a nameless breed of beings known as “the hungry” (akin to “the infected”).  We’re not trying to serve our neighbors, the “hungry people”—still defined by their condition rather than their self-identity as human beings.  Rather, we are ministering to people—people who happen to be hungry but are people first nonetheless.  They are Kennedy Symphorian, a skinny 15-year-old boy I met years ago in Tanzania who had HIV and whose non-traditional family eeked out a meager living and survived on assistance from an organization that received support from ELCA World Hunger dollars.  They are the children begging for handouts on the streets of Nicaragua, some of whom work the streets alone during the day while their parent(s) crowd into a tightly packed school bus and ride off to work in a sweatshop.  They are nameless strangers we meet on our streets who browse trash cans for food scraps, approach our rolled-up windows at a stoplight (maybe we look at them, maybe not), sleep on a doorstep in 15-degree weather.  They are us only with fewer resources and a harder way, trying to survive. 

We cannot afford to talk about people in any way less than the dignified manner all souls should be afforded.  We are all people first and foremost.  We are Christians, Muslims, writers, janitors, men, women, fast-food workers, nurses, crossing guards, students, tailors…we are who we are, defined by our humanity and our relationship to God. 

Let’s put people first instead of resorting to comfortable, overused phrases that define people by their condition.  Maybe next time you encounter “the other”—that perfect stranger who asks you for money because she probably really needs it—you’ll ask her name and be able to talk about the time you met Rhonda rather than “some homeless woman.”

What are you planning to make for dinner tonight? As a source of inspiration, I wanted to start this blog with the picture of the breaded, pan-fried scorpion that appears in the June 9 issue of Time Magazine. But I don’t want to violate any copyright laws, so all I can do is refer you to it. You can find it on this page, along with an video clip that shows you how to make it.

The same Time Magazine page contains an article titled, “Eating Bugs.” Being an American, just thinking about it makes me squirm. And yet the concept intrigues me, too. The author argues that bugs are eaten regularly in many parts of the word. They are high in protein, readily available, reproduce quickly, and take few resources to raise compared to the animals we Americans typically eat. Apparently, they also add a variety of delicious texture and flavor. When you consider the current food crisis and the fact that, according to the article, livestock accounts for 18% of greenhouse-gas emissions globally, why aren’t we eating bugs?

As far as I can tell, the only real reason is we can’t stand the thought. Which makes me wonder, is that a good enough reason? That our minds don’t like it? At what point would I be willing to defy the prevailing culture and eat bugs? Is it enough to think bug consumption is good for the planet and other people? A healthy way to expand the food supply? Or would I have to be desperately hungry before I would choke them down? Which is stronger: my cultural mind or my logical mind?

Personally, I’m not that attached to meat. I think it would be easier to be a vegetarian than to eat bugs. But then again, as long as they were chopped up and didn’t look so much like a worm or spider or whatever, I might be willing to taste a bug dish. Maybe.

Whether or not there is or should be U.S. market for entomophagy (the fancy term for eating bugs), it’s an interesting idea to consider! What do you think?

Looking for a quick way to convey the complexity of why hunger exists in the world? Try a mind map! It works as an individual activity, or with a leader mapping the ideas of a group. Once you’ve pretty much filled the page, you can talk about how the differed parts of the map are related, and add arrows to help make the connections. If you’re interested in a multi-session class, you can start with the overall picture, then focus on specific sections of the map in subsequent sessions. It’s also easy to end on a “half-full” note; with so many issues contributing to hunger, there are many points of entry to solving it. And with so many connections between issues, change in one place can cause change in others. If you want to go beyond education, it’s also a way to organize for action: which topic is the group most interested in acting on? How might you do so?

Disclaimer: my map here is not complete (ran out of space on the page). Can you name some things I left out?

This may be another one that falls into the category of, “yeah, already seen it.” It isn’t cutting edge new. But it’s very worthwhile! In case you haven’t seen it, or if you’d like a refresher course on how our consumption affects our planet and the people on it, please watch Story of Stuff. It’s 20 minutes and 40 seconds of your life well spent – and entertaining, besides! It’s the simplest, clearest explanation I’ve encountered about where all of our “stuff” comes from, where it ends up, and why it matters.

It’s also a partial answer to my posting on the Nature of Power, my question about what it means for an individual American to wield American power. (Though it applies to other countries, too.) At the time I wrote that post, I was thinking more about government. But Story of Stuff makes crystal clear how each of us affects the world – and ultimately world hunger – with our purchase decisions every day. Instant empowerment!

One of the purposes of ELCA World Hunger is to help people learn about hunger and its root causes. And it seems to me, if we can teach people when they’re young, so much the better! They will grow up with a better awareness of the world and their role in it. Which is why I think Food Force is such fun!

Food Force is a free computer game produced by the United Nations World Food Programme. It introduces a couple of causes of hunger, and spends time explaining some basics about the work of international aid organizations. All of this is done by making the player a member of a relief team responsible for getting food to hungry people in a fictional location. It’s intended for kids ages 8 to 13, and I can easily see how it would be a hit with that age group. It’s a bit too basic to really draw in older kids and adults, but having said that, I think most any age group would have fun with it once. I know I both enjoyed it and learned some things! And any age group could use it to open deeper discussion about causes of hunger, the nature of aid, and the roles of relief and long-term development.

Another thing I really like is the web site that goes with it. In addition to the game, there’s information about hunger in the world, real anti-hunger initiatives, nutrition, and support for teachers who want to use Food Force in the classroom. Admittedly, I’m not sure kids are going to spend much time with the additional information, but for parents and teachers who want to create more depth and structure around a Food Force experience, it’s really helpful.

So if you’ve got some time to kill this weekend, check it out! Just don’t do it tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. – it’s Earth Hour and you ought to turn your computer off along with your lights!

One of our hunger volunteers, Mary, forwarded me a link to an interesting blog posting. It’s written by Brian Konkol, a missionary who has recently moved to South Africa. In his March 11th post, he talks about a class he’s taking with several African students from different countries. They are discussing power in the world, who has it, how they use it, etc. The Africans point out to Brian that regardless of its popularity, the United States holds great power and influence throughout the world. The discussion causes Brian to ponder whether “we Americans… have used our vast collective power wisely.”

Brian, in turn, has caused me to ponder. The word “collective” really got my attention. What is the role of an individual American in wielding American power? I have absolutely no data to support this next claim, but here it is: I think that most Americans feel pretty divorced from the actions of the government, and especially its foreign policy. Of course there are exceptions. Politicians, lobbyists and activists are obvious ones. But how many of us, our friends, our family, feel they have anything to do with the Farm Bill? With federal budget allocations? With diplomatic relations?

Of course many of us vote, and that’s important (though many of us don’t!). But it’s often an isolated act. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t usually feel responsible for the ultimate outcome. I pick the candidate that seems to most closely align with my values and then hope for the best. Or I vote punitively, selecting the opposing candidate, regardless of who it is, in hopes of getting rid of the incumbent. Either way, once the voting is done, many of us return to our lives and shake our heads if the news is bad. Outside of this occasional activity, I suspect most Americans don’t feel they have a role in how American power is used in the world.

I’ve sometimes heard statements like, “We don’t have anything against the American people; it’s the government (or policy, or administration) we have issues with.” I think this statement is meant to make criticism easier to accept, but I wonder if instead it doesn’t just further divorce us from our government and policies. “Oh. They’re not talking about me! I’m not part of the government. I’ll just get back to what I was doing.” But is that true? Don’t we claim a representative government? Don’t we claim it represents its citizens – us? me?

Like Brian, I don’t really have answers. If you do, I’d love to hear them – please leave a comment! But I will continue to ponder what it means for an individual American to wield American power outside of a career in politics. Because American power in the world certainly has a role in ending hunger, and if I can wield some of that, I want to.

The headlines about rising food prices around the globe are sobering. The World Bank reports that wheat prices are up 200% since 2000 and overall food prices are up 75%. The increases are causing difficulty as people spend an ever-larger portion of their income on food. As usual, the poorest are hit the hardest. Meager incomes never went far, and when the cost of bread doubles, they can buy even less. In some places, people are protesting in the streets, as demonstrated by recent riots in Indonesia and Burkina Faso.

There are several converging reasons behind the increase of world food prices, including greater global demand, adverse weather affecting crop production, and the diversion of grain from food to biofuel. I recently ran across a nice explanation of these factors and their consequences. Check out the BBC Food Series. There are four video clips covering food supply stories in different parts of the world, and the top right of the page has links to several other related articles. (The link to the Chicago video clip is misdirected but you can get to it here.) If you’re wanting an quick education or need to explain the situation to others, this is a great place to start!

The following statistics caught my attention this weekend:

• The World Health Organization says a person needs 50 liters of water each day to meet basic human needs.
• The average person in the U.S. uses 300 to 378 liters per day.

If I had a little pie chart of my own use, I’m guessing the shower would account for the biggest slice. I do love a steamy shower in the winter! The kitchen sink and the toilet are probably next, except on laundry days. I wonder how many other uses would be in that chart. And I wonder just how much bigger the shower slice would be. I wonder how egregiously clean I am.