The Boulevard Market recently started a Culinary Book Club and the last book was a selection by MFK Fisher, "How to Cook a Wolf". A small book, written in the 1930's, during food shortages, ration cards and blackouts with the basic premise of how to eat well in extremely tough times. I loved the fact that "MFK" kept her sense of humor, sense of self and made the most unusual dishes and seemed to enjoy every minute of cooking and eating them! The book, and the fact it's almost Thanksgiving, really got me thinking about abundance & gratitude. MFK's approach to using every bit of a steer or hog or chicken and more mirror my own upbringing on the farm. My family NEVER threw food away, it went to the chickens(to this day!!!) or back in the fridge for leftovers. Strange pieces like tongue etc. we eaten as well. I believe that is where I got my love for pates, marrow bones and the like. I am thankful that my mother and grandmothers were great cooks!!!
After reading this book, I am quite ashamed at the waste of food that goes on in my home.
I have also vowed to be more appreciative for the sheer abundance in my life. The people, the land, the freedoms, the animals, the food and all of the other "things" but also intangibles like family values, memories, time and free will. To think "thank you" instead of "I wish" to say "I appreciate" instead of "I want"...it's written in dozens of books and preached from many pulpits, yet I forget when I'm caught up in the daily tasks of life. For me, it begins today...
(photo: Jamie Aylward's ceramic art project on display at Tecumseh High School..."Cheese, Please!")
