Today is World Food Day.

Today is Blog Action Day.  It's also World Food Day, a day to focus the world's attention on food and food issues.  So the "Blog Action" people decided blogs should talk about food today, and that seems like a good idea to me, so I thought I would participate.  I love food.

Here in Iselin, food issues may seem pretty minor.  Mostly everyone I know who lives around here has plenty of food, and plenty of choices.  But there is a lot to say about food.  From the Blog Action Day website:

"We use food to mark times of celebration and sorrow. Lack of access to food causes devastating famines, whilst too much is causing a generation of new health problems.  It can cost the world, or be too cheap for farmers to make a living.
The way we companies produce food and drinks can provide important jobs for communities or be completely destructive to habitats and local food producers.  Food can  give us energy to get through the day or contain ingredients that gives us allergic reactions.
Food can cooked by highly skilled chefs with inventive flair, or mass produced and delivered with speed at the side of road. It can be incredibly healthy or complete junk and bad for your health. It can taste delicious or be a locals only delicacy.
Food is important to our culture, identity and daily sustenance and the team at Blog Action invite you to join us to talk about food."

 I can think of a few aspects of World Food Day that would apply to Iselin and to my own life.

-- I'm overweight, and I'm always struggling to eat less and to eat food that is better for me so I can drop a few pounds.  I feel very blessed to live in a place where having too much food is the problem.  Of course, that doesn't change the fact that I still need to lose weight.

-- I eat wayyy to much processed food.  It's hard to take the time to make everything from scratch.   I like to cook... a little... but not all the time.  It's hard to make a commitment to making everything fresh, even if it is healthier.

-- New Jersey is the GARDEN STATE, and my garden did pretty well this year.  But I would have some serious problems trying to produce the food I need to survive.  Our culture is sooo dependent on shipping food from far away.  I'm not sure how well we can "eat locally," even if we do live in the Garden State.  It seems like almost everything is grown somewhere else... did you ever notice the labels on your produce?  And that is just for fruits and veggies!  Processed food is even worse.

-- On WORLD FOOD Day, it might be nice to try a new kind of food.  There are a lot of great ethnic food choices here in Iselin... especially the obvious, Asian Indian.  Maybe this will be the week to try something new here at my house.

But for today, I think I'm going to keep it simple.  I don't feel like being political or being an activist today, and I don't feel like trying anything new today.  I'm just going to feed my family.  I'm going to use up some of the leftovers that always seem to hang around in my refrigerator until they get thrown out. That will be less wasteful.  Maybe I'll make a pot of bean soup with the ham bone I have left from yesterday's dinner.   That will be (somewhat) less processed - at least better than just opening the can of soup. I'm going to go through my garden one last time to find all the last string beans and wormy tomatoes I can, to save the seeds for next year.  (Because I've invested in heirloom seeds, so I'm not dependent on seed companies.  I can use the seeds I grow.)  And then, I'm going to clean up my garden to get it ready for next year.  That should give me some exercise, which is the other aspect of my weight problem.

But to get all of this stuff done, I'm going to have to get off the computer.  So I'll talk to ya later!

But if you want to read more about "Adventurous and Sustainable Eating," you should take a look at the Perennial Plate's blog, HERE.  It's a BEAUTIFUL blog, and I think you'll like it!