Few things change slower than eating habits. When it comes to food, familiarity reigns supreme.
How else can you explain our eagerness to continue eating things that we know are terrible for us, while resisting eating things that would be great for us, simply because they are unfamiliar.
“The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared or fast food, confronts a platter covered with inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived.” -Wendell Berry
One of the great gifts of diving into the world of wild food is the abundance of new things to try, taste, and share.
Before the last Wild Fish & Wild Game Club Dinner, I wrote an article stating the only food you can't bring to a dinner is an impossible burger—a highly processed faux meat alternative.
The stated purpose of this club is to live more deeply in the rhythm of the natural world—not more artificially. Real food is seasonal and identifiable by children. The modern obsession with trying to out-smart nature is what has gotten our industrial agriculture system to the precarious point it currently finds itself.
“I am not content to merely be a spectator in nature. I feel compelled to play the part humans were born to play. Gathering acorns. Picking berries. Digging clams. Hunting birds. These are active pursuits that bring me closer to nature and make me deeply aware that we are all part of the natural world.” -Hank Shaw
This club, and your author, are going to do our darnedest to encourage changes in your eating habits. Save the photos of the 190" Mule Deer Buck (it will only make me jealous), and show me the life sustained on a wildly varied diet.
As society becomes more insulated and disconnected from the laws of nature, we must press further in to the things we know to be real—real food, real human connection, and the real work it takes to make those things happen often
Try new foods. Incorporate them into your routine. Bring some interesting stuff to the next dinner and share your discoveries with your friends.
