The Tomatoes are in! Thousands a day! So many tomatoes! I love tomatoes, so this is an exciting time for me! I can gorge on an obscene amount of delicious, ripe tomatoes while harvesting! Every girls dream, right? Lemon boys, sungolds, cherry, brandywine, striped german, green zebra... the list goes on and on of delectable tomatoes!
Currently, there is an abundance of produce on the farm. In addition to the 15-30 tomatoes each family may get, we are also harvesting a lot of corn, onions, beets, beans, eggplant, potatoes, and a variety of peppers.
In lieu of all of these veggies, I decided to make salsa. There is something gratifying about creating a dish completely produced from the farm. After my shift, I harvested a couple ears of corn, onions, jalapenos, bell peppers, cilantro, and tomatoes for this salsa. The salsa was made within, two hours of being harvested. Short of making it in the field, that is about as fresh as you can get!
Food is a great way to bring people together! Everyone eats, so why not all eat together? Eating is deeply ingrained in our American culture. Eating can be a very social occasion and is often a common place for thoughts and ideas to be shared. It is considered a time for bonding with other human beings. Although in the 21st century, we have strayed from the sit down meal with the family and have migrated to dinners in front of the television. It still can be considered a time to mix and mingle with family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers.
However, diet can also ostracize us if we do not conform to dietary norms. Speaking from personal experience, last summer, I decided to try vegetarianism for health reasons, to practice self restraint, and as a social experiment. Whenever I was at a social gathering and there was food involved people became uncomfortable with the fact that I might not be able to eat everything served. Some would dismiss me and tell me to fend for myself (which I am fine with I can scavenge), while others would flutter around asking what else they can serve me. There was a lot of cajoling to just try a piece of that steak, chicken, burger, etc. and stop being vegetarian despite my personal choices. I felt that as soon as I mentioned I was vegetarian in situations like this it brought me one step down on the social food chain (excuse the pun). I found my experiment useful in showing how much food influences our daily lives and social interactions. However, this is only one person's observations, I am sure other dietary restrictions in other social groups and geographical areas would produce very different results.
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