How can every meal we eat be like saying grace?

Guest Editors:
Margaret McCasland
co-clerk, Earthcare Working Group & Climate Justice Working Group
Rebekah Rice
co-clerk, Witness Coordinating Committee

Friends sought a deeper conversation once it became clear we were not yet ready to reach unity on what mindful eating might comprise. Food is very personal, but as Friends we can respect each other’s differences at the same time as we seek common ground around more systemic and spiritual aspects of food. 

People submitted carefully discerned spiritual testimonies on mindful eating, stories about their personal relationship with food, and pieces on regeneration: how food related practices affect our Earth.

We were surprised to not have received articles on food justice, food processing, bioengineered  foods, animal cruelty and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), industrial agriculture, or relevant public policies.

All of us want to nourish our bodies and our souls while we nourish our planet, but we use a mix of criteria when deciding what to eat. For some, mindful eating requires an understanding of where our food came from. Some people focus on food miles and pay attention to where their food was produced. For some, the way in which food is grown and the effects on water, sky and land is their dominant concern, with solutions ranging from home gardens to Regenerative Agriculture and Permaculture.

As Michael Pollan wrote in The Omnivore’s Dilemma:

Imagine for a moment if we once again knew, strictly as a matter of course, these few unremarkable things:

Imagine if we had a food system that actually produced wholesome food.

Imagine if it produced that food in a way that restored the land.

Imagine if we could eat every meal knowing these few simple things: What it is we’re eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what it really cost.

If that was the reality, then every meal would have the potential to be a perfect meal.

We would not need to go hunting for our connection to our food and the web of life that produces it. We would no longer need any reminding that we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and that what we’re eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world.

I don’t want to have to forage every meal. Most people don’t want to learn to garden or hunt. But we can change the way we make and get our food so that it becomes food again—something that feeds our bodies and our souls.

Imagine it: Every meal would connect us to the joy of living and the wonder of nature. Every meal would be like saying grace.