Feed the Resistance: Not a Book Review

Eating is political. A trite statement given the history of food and revolutions. From the army marches on its stomach to breaking bread as a sign of peace; food is connected to big movements. I have been reading a lot lately on an analysis of class and country music and queerness and it has left me with a whole lot of questions and ruminations. This has affected the way I look at many things including food.

A cookbook, "Feed the Resistance" showed up on a feed and I got it out from the library. The recipes are pretty quotidian but largely from different ethnic groups. I suppose it would be exotic but these are from the frontlines of the class battles. So, quick, cheap meals from their different backgrounds are the ordinary meals of the activist. Interspersed are little essays on all sorts of activist stuff. Yes, this is definitely a response to President Donald J. Trump but it is a kinder more measured way to respond. The kind of response that begins around the kitchen table and moves into streets, organizations and any type of response imaginable.

Let them eat cake

Like after a death; there are feeders and the fed. Sustenance is needed to go on when you can't go on. People are worried that things are as bleak as ever. But things often look less bleak after a meal and some tea. At least we can start with that because we have some tea and a meal.

The meal itself presents kindness to be shared or burdens lifted. It is almost as if the communal making of a meal and cleaning up gives us the sense that if we all work together we can change the world starting with our family. In today's age, that family can mean so many things. Families are more than the post nuclear family of a parent or two and whatever amount of kids.

You don't win friends with salad

I am beginning to explore that. A few weeks ago, I made a birthday meal for someone I care about greatly. Friends were invited to break bread. The spread consisted of donair, arugula and roasted veggie salad, potato salad, chocolate cake, and lemon goat cheesecake. The people around the table were all from so called intersectional groups. While that is a fancy way of saying that there is a bunch of shit happening from different directions, it sometimes misses things. Class is one of them. Why bother with talking about class and food? Well...

Activism is often lead by the middle class as the lower class is too busy struggling to go to protests or trying to change the world. What can be done to help? How can we bring in the voices who need the change?

Well, some of the essays in the cookbook have ideas. Ideas that I think could help around the table. In this meal, there were people from different walks of life around the table and there was a way to practice some ideas. The essay "Ground rules to organized activism" suggests four things; Assume best intentions, One microphone, Progressive stack, and Non-Martian clause. Roughly speaking, set a safe place for everyone to make mistakes while having a chance to speak especially those who don't and use plain language. That means everyone gets to speak from their experience. That means EVERYONE. I think I would love to have people from radically different lifestyles sitting and breaking bread.

Out of witty salad quotes

In other words, I am going to start having dinner parties with a variety of people around the table to see if we cannot change some things. Start small and work from there. For instance, this time, one of the guests talked about how she would get extra food from work and not be able to use it. I told her to bring it over here. If there was a lot, then I would cook it all and give back some. So far, there have been some bags of food that show up intermittently but I am keeping in mind one day there may be a bigger pile. I have shared whatever food I make from these bags. It is making a difference to at least two people.

Also, I'm thinking about buying a bushel of tomatoes and making a sauce. I'd like to have some people over for pasta and then sending them on their way with some sauce and a few ideas. We will see if I can make it work but it does seem like a start. Imagine having discussions on sharing while around a table. No pressure to act but rather a human discussion on what could help. It may help the trading of pet sitting for food or a place to stay for a couch surfer. I don't know what could come of it but being open to it would be a good thing.

Another essay exhorts to not to try to do it all: Choose something you can be a leader on, something you can follow and something that is a habit. I'm going to work on this idea for a bit and see if it leads somewhere. In the meantime, maybe I should write more about the politics of eating and preparing food. I'll let the food system issues work themselves out while trying to figure out how to feed my friends and family.

East Coast Donair