Mindful eating

The book Savor tells a story that Buddha once shared about a young couple traveling through the desert with their baby. The journey was difficult, and it became clear that the family would not make it. The parents made the decision to eat their baby - if they did not have nourishment, no one would make it, and the baby could not survive without them. The Buddha said that each of us should approach each bite of food as those parents must have approached their meal - thoughtfully, with knowledge of what sacrifices were made for that morsel to make it to our mouths, mindful to only eat what we need to nourish our bodies.

We haven't shared this story with the boys yet, but it has been a great exercise for the boys to try to think of all the people and processes involved in getting each piece of food to our table. It takes the space of grace at our table when we remember to do it. They brainstorm, for instance, all the people who were involved in getting the raisins to us. It's a LONG list - from the people involved in the growing to the processing to the shipping and stocking. It also often includes my husband and I, which I hope begins to instill in the kiddos a bit of gratitude for the work we put into feeding them. It is also fun to contrast when the food item is something that we grew, like eggs from our backyard chickens or produce from our garden. The list is very different, and we all can take pride in our minuscule efforts at self-reliance.

I fell off the vegan wagon yesterday - hard. I knew this week would be a non-vegan week, as I will be at the mercy of non-vegetarian family during the holiday, and at the mercy of Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel. But I did not expect to find my husband's birthday lunch at our favorite Cuban restaurant to be so difficult. Pork never tasted so good. I thought of that baby in the desert, and I ate it anyway. Lots of it.