Culinary Activism: From Anger to Action

I want to talk about food, because food has a central role in creating a society that doesn’t feel the need for a militarized, and too often hostile police presence. 

By food, I mean access to healthy, sustainable, nutritious food for every human being, not just for those who can afford it, and who can afford to study food policies, read the newest article on sustainable agriculture, or meditate on the impact of animal farming on the planet. People need to eat. And the people who can’t afford all the above, are usually people in low-income and Black communities who work all day, and who need to feed their children when they return home. Who cares about the envoronment, when they can barely make it to the end of the month? Who cares about expensive sustainability when they can grab a $3 menu at McDonald without even getting out of the car? This isn’t luxury of modern life, this is its decay.

Simplistic? Perhaps, but some notions are way easier than the people at the top want us to believe. And usually, simple notions are at the very core of systemic change. People shouldn’t be barely making it to the end of the month, working several jobs that do not allow for time, energy, and financial resources for the pleasure of food, for cooking, and for approaching the concept of feeding their families beyond the filling of their bellies, before going to bed and start the survival machine again. 

America is one of the richest countries in the world and we have Americans who starve on a daily basis. I know, it’s not news and you may be writing me off as a liberal cliché, but I have a question for you: 

“Are we becoming so used to hearing these statements that we discard them as just the way it is? 

Are we tempted to say:

“What a shame; it’s an injustice,”

perhaps we make a donation or two, only to then go to bed angry, thinking:

“It’s screwed up, but this is how this shitty worlds goes.” 

This is not activism. This is “half-doing” — a good first step, but not enough. 

Here’s something else you may, at first sight, write off as a boring cliché: if we start redirecting millions of dollars spent on weapons and policing (this means actively participating in the demand for change at the local level when it comes to electing our representatives, participating in local assemblies, etc.), we (our local and federal government) would have plenty of money to invest in urban farms, in food education, in meaningful jobs within the food chain, in training former incarcerated people to give them a second chance so they don’t go back to prison (how do you expect an individual to rebuild a life if we don’t provide the basic tools for rebuilding)? There would be plenty of money for investing in the new generations, in their education, in their activism and interest, in their curiosity, in their taste, in their culinary creativity.

We would have plenty of money to create meaningful lives for every human being. 

EVERY HUMAN BEING!

When we have a meaning in our lives, we are less likely to go out in the world and take meaning away from other people by means of violent and criminal acts; we are also more likely to share that meaning, and create more of it. More meaning equals less desperation.

Can this process be as simple as to be starting at the kitchen table of our local low-income and Black communities? I believe so.

I truly, firmly, wholeheartedly believe so. For knowledge is power. 

I was born with the privilege of being white, and I was blessed, in my adulthood, with financial security. So I have the moral obligation to do my part.

Starting this month, June 2020, the anniversary month of Instagram to Table (1 year, my friends… 1 year of shows!!), I will focus our conversations on an honest and proactive dialogue about the food revolution, about food education, food distribution, culinary action. I want to hear your stories, your experiences, the actions you are taking to change what is fundamentally wrong in our society, and I want to keep doing it while cooking with you.

Yesterday, June 8th, was the anniversary of the death of Anthony Bourdain, someone I have always looked up to, someone I admired, respected, and who has inspired me to get into the food business. I dreamed big because of him. So today I want to honor his too brief passage in this life by committing to the dialogue he had started with the people of the world, and especially with the less privileged, with black people, with minorities. For he understood one thing: just like knowledge, food is power. Food brings us together, and food can change the world one kitchen table at the time.

I am hungry for that. This is my way of transforming anger into action.

I am supporting Urban Growers Collective, for their amazing work in south Chicago. I would love to hear from you about other local initiatives that narrow down action for change and racial justice in the food world. 

See you on Instagram, and don’t forget to REGISTER TO VOTE!

Also, if you live in Los Angeles District 4, support and vote for Nithya Raman for City Council.

We change by changing!

Love,

Alice