Do you believe that a conversation can make a difference?
“I think we have enough food for everyone, if we share,” I overheard a young woman say to her friends as she passed by the table where my husband & I sat in the sunshine reading the latest newspaper over coffee. What caught my attention was the words “enough” and “everyone,” especially since we were surrounded by coffee shops, grocery stores and bakeries. Why not take advantage of the abundance of food available in the vicinity? If they were worried that they didn’t have enough to eat, they could always buy more food to make sure. But they moved on, satisfied to commingle their resources.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about the strategic direction of Taking the Kitchen. There are remarkable food blogs that provide an astounding variety of recipes that inspire and delight. But when I think of Taking the Kitchen, I go back to the young woman. “I think we have enough food for everyone, if we share.” Going forward, Taking the Kitchen will be about community (share), diversity (everyone) and frugality (enough).
A conversation can make a difference.
Shopping in a Venice Market
Taking the Kitchen 
good idea — I think there is generally enough food, but there are severe political/good guy/bad guy issues. I think distribution dwarfs total available.
A friend just recommended a book about it… I will let you know when I read it.
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what’s your take on Monsanto scientists winning the Nobel Prize ?
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This is one of the challenges! There is so much information out there – both pro/cons.
Kenneth M. Quinn, the president of the World Food Prize Foundation, defended the choice, saying that crop biotechnology had “met the test of demonstrating it would impact millions of people and enhance their lives.” Mr. Quinn, a former United States ambassador to Cambodia, said that contributions had no influence on the selection of winners.
“The view of our organization and our committee is that in the face of controversy, you shouldn’t back away from your precepts,” he said. “If you do so, you are diminishing the prize.”
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Thank you!! I’m heading back this blog – have been thinking about food these past months. There are so many challenges that will be coming our way…
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our farm uses GMO corn for 3 x the yield. However any seed corn is patented and cannot be used. If pollen from our corn cross fertilizes a nearby farm then they cannot use the corn ( I don’t understand how patents upheld that one )
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Sorry, I didn’t see this comment last night – I shut down my computer at ll:30! I am very interested in the idea of patented seed so you have given me a great research project. In fact, I feel that I will be returning to this blog quite soon. Whenever there is economic uncertainty, food is a hot topic. What happens on one side of the globe affects the other side. Everyone is talking about organics, food wastage and trans fat. Lots of good things to discuss. Thank you so much for your comments – you always give me something good to think about!!
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sleep is always recommended 🙂
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“As far as he could remember, Sam slept through the night in deep content, if logs are contented.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
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In our family we have changed that a bit so that our goodnight comment is “sleep the sleep of the contented, if logs can be content” 🙂
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Love it!!!! 🙂
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I have nominated you for the SEMPER FIDELIS AWARD! I think the following should enable you to find the image of the award:
This description was written by Patty of http://petitemagique.wordpress.com: Semper Fidelis is Latin and means Always Loyal. Loyalty means the world to me. I am very loyal myself, but I’ve got major trust issues as well. And I think trust is very important if you are sharing so much of yourself with people you meet through the internet. So I am working on that! 🙂 Why the wolves? Because wolves have very strong ties with their pack. Like a family or a great group of friends. And I just love them! This award stands for the loyalty and love between friends.
The Rules:
Add the Semper Fidelis Award logo somewhere on your blog.
Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
Nominate 5 bloggers who’s loyalty and friendship you value and you consider being part of your ‘pack of wolves’ on WordPress.
Post something special for each one of your nominees and dedicate it to them. This can be a quote, saying, poem, picture, anything you think that would fit that person.
Let the nominees know that you’ve nominated them.
I am very grateful to Patty of http://petitemagique.wordpress.com for her award to me!
My pack of wolves are: 🙂
* Rebecca Budd: http://clanmother.wordpress.com …. http://chasingart.com/ ….https://takingthekitchen.com/
Clanmother, from Vancouver, impresses me because her blog shows that she appreciates the beauty of the world in which she has found herself. Her blog is filled with the beauty of so many artists –she appreciates the creativity she finds around herself. Her writing moves me to think beyond myself and her presence is often found on my blogs, giving my writing her confirmation…which is so encouraging to me. She seems to be a person who is constantly engaged with life and goes forward into it with joy. Recently, she jumped into recycling and is asking us to join in her conversation about sharing food with each other in her blog, “taking the kitchen.” Her openness to transitions in life encourages me to go forward in my own life.
Christine Feehan
“Life gives us choices. You either grab on with both hands and just go for it, or you sit on the sidelines.”
― Christine Feehan, Night Game
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Thank you so much for your encouragement and support! I am glad that we connected over the blogger miles – I think that we are on an amazing journey – together! 🙂 I love the quote you gave me – it is a gift for my day. All the very best, my dear friend!
Christine Feehan
“Life gives us choices. You either grab on with both hands and just go for it, or you sit on the sidelines.”
― Christine Feehan, Night Game
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I re blogged it on my site! It is good to share the conversation that you began!
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Thank you!!! I have been watching the food forecast. Increasing food prices has reaffirmed my commitment to “taking care in my kitchen.”
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This is a beautiful posting, Clanmother! Yes, if we share, no one in the world needs to be hungry. Wonderful! You write it all in such a charming manner!
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Thank you so very, very much for your heartwarming comments. I want to continue with this blog and have considered the focus etc over the past couple of months. Let’s see where the adventure takes us. I am enjoying following your blog and look forward to our ongoing dialogue. 🙂
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I LIke this!
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Thank you so much Cindy! I have a feeling that we are going an amazing blogging journey together. I confess, I would love to bake, cook and be a diva in the kitchen, but alas, that has never been my forte. I decided to start a blog to record my thoughts about how I feel in the kitchen. There are so many amazing food blogs out there and I visit them daily just to revel in the beauty of their photos and rejoice that food bloggers make it all look so easy. My career was always front and center, but now I am in transition. And in the transition, I have decided to make peace with my stove and fridge. I have no idea where I am going with this. Usually, I have a plan, a strategic direction, benchmarks, and goal posts. I have left that behind and am “winging it.” It feels rather odd, almost scary…but isn’t that what life is all about? We should do one thing every day that scares us…maybe…
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This takes me back to the 1930’s where many had to share what they had. Not many remember those days anymore. But, there is a sense of unity and shared accomplishment when people “share what they have”. Thank you for “Taking the Kitchen” in a new and different direction.
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Seneca agrees with you: “there is no delight in owning anything unshared.” And he lived centuries before us! It seems that it is an universal theme.
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I love Senecas quote and the young woman “if we share” This is a fantastic Blog “Clanmother” it’s giving me a different way of looking at things.
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You are so kind!!! And thank you so much for joining the conversation – glad that we connected over the “blogger miles.”
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