Tuesday, April 01, 2008

not a bad way to think

"The improvements would be manifold: A smaller plate would mean less food waste. This is important in two regards: First, we should honor our food. It is always interesting to me that for months and years of work raising an animal, that work can disappear in a single meal. It takes about two months to raise a chicken, and yet one chicken will feed a family of four only once. There is a lot that goes into that process, and there is a life that is taken for one dinner. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't eat chicken, but we should realize that there was tremendous work and sacrifice in every chicken dinner. By eating everything on our plates, we honor that work and sacrifice. Much the same goes for vegetables. It takes two years to establish an asparagus patch, and yet I must admit I don't always finish the asparagus on my plate. I heard once that Gandhi used a pencil until it was a tiny nub in order to honor the work of those who made it. We need to follow a similar ethic in our work—smaller plates would be a first step in that direction."

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