5 - Hunger Moon

Susanna Suchak (February 2006)

Apples, Oranges and Potatoes

This month, the month of February is called, "Hunger Moon". Hunger Moon acknowledges that winter is coming to an end. We know this because although the days are longer, the sun feels warmer, our food stores are almost gone ? we are hungry. We are hungry in our bellies, but some of us hunger for something else. We hunger for of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. UUs hunger for that so much that we have it as a goal. It is our 6th principle.

But what does it mean to be hungry, to hunger? The Hunger Moon may help us to understand. Hunger Moon says that this is a short-term natural occurrence when the community takes care of each other ? we SHARE. Something we learned in kindergarten, if not, at mother's knee. Hunger Moon teaches us that there will be lean times, that human beings get through these times together. But our reality is different. For far too many hunger is an everyday thing with no end in site. They hunger not just for food, but justice ? the chance to be a part of humanity; and they hunger for peace and dignity. But first they hunger for food in their bellies. Why?

Food, in the Haudenosaunee society, was what grew near you or what got in the way of your arrow. What foods you traded were in the form of seed ? and you grew it yourself. That's why February was a difficult month to get through. Now, though we have created a double-pronged hunger-making machine ? globalization and commodification of food. We have created a catastrophe known euphemistically as "food insecurity". But when it comes down to it, it's just called hunger by millions of our fellow journeyers on this planet ? Mother Earth. What Mother feeds only some of her children?

This irrational phenomenon of hunger has spawned a whole new industry; one offshoot of community development as government-funded programs and I have been involved in food security programs both in Windsor and London regions. I have been a guest speaker on community programs to address this issue all over this province and in print. I have fretted over where my next meal was coming from, how I was going to feed my children. I have made muffins with flour that I had to sift out the maggots, but I have never ever truly experienced the indignity or hunger that others have. And so I thank my Creator for placing me in a land of plenty, for giving me skills to grow food, put it by and prepare a tasty meal from a handful of beans, some stewed tomatoes, an onion, clean water and a dash of spice. I thank my Creator for placing me in communities where I could help others to do the same and they too could teach me how to prepare some tasty "peasant" dish. Every day I feel grateful for all this goodness in my life. And every day I worry. All of us do, I am sure, but after a while you just have to tune out because, well, face it, the problem is just too big and you can't possibly fix it yourself and really ? after all ? what did mother say? Yes, that's it, "Charity begins at home." I am here this morning to agree with you and your mother and mine. Charity does indeed begin at home. Especially if you call North America home. I think most of us do whether we have been here since "the world began" or just arrived this year

I have also been privileged to work with many, many new Canadians. People who fled to this country with a suitcase of clothing and small change in their pockets. People who immigrated here for a better life for their children. People who believed that this was the land of milk and honey their holy writs spoke of. And every day I pray for forgiveness. I ask that I will be forgiven for my greed. My laziness, my gluttony, my forgetfulness. Then my "students" teach me that I can do something. They teach me that charity begins at home.

We can do something ? we can change in little ways, in local ways in such basic areas as what we eat. By keeping track of our food consumption and eating locally as much as possible. But to do this we have to be aware of where the food on our table comes from. Keeping track of food and tracing its source may not save the world, but it will certainly make you more aware. And awareness is the first step in making change. Change is done in stages. We cannot change what we do, think, believe until we are actually aware of what we do, think and believe. Then we cannot change until we know of an alternative. When we change everything and everyone around us changes.

If we track one of our favourite foods, we will discover that perhaps it is shipped great distances, picked before ripening, riddled with pesticides ? even DDT which is illegal in North America. Maybe we will discover that this food is grown on land that used to feed hundreds, thousands of people and now they go hungry because they have had to opt into a $$ economy which exploits their labour and offers no edible alternatives to their cash crop.

Dr. Veronikka Mogyorody teaches a course at University of Windsor under the banner of "Women's Studies" called Women, Power and the Environment. It is one of the most powerful learning experiences I have ever had the honour of participating in. She is a woman of honour and someone for whom I hold esteem and respect. In her class we were asked to trace a favourite food of ours from seed to feed. Not only did we write our reports, hand them in to her for marks, but more importantly we shared around a (somewhat) circle what most surprised us, our learnings. It might not have been The Learneds, but it was a powerful and empowering experience. To a person, in this class of over 50 students, everyone stated that they would never be able to buy food, eat out, or prepare a meal without remembering vividly some of the things we shared in that room on that cold winter day. But there are even more vivid ways to become aware of food insecurity right under our noses.

Take apples ? the food I researched in Dr. Mogyorody's class ? as an example. Apples are not native to North America. That was my first surprise, because I grew up romping in an orchard where at least 5 different varieties of apples grew, ripened, fell to the ground and rotted. There were specific purposes for each variety. One wouldn't think of putting a Macintosh into a pie! Oh my!

Jeff and I hike through many an old orchard gone wild. The apples are small, often wormy and/or blighted, but sweet, tart, juicy or mealy, they are nourishing, satisfying and thirst quenching on a hot summer day. Most apples grown around southwestern Ontario are sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. Farmers claim that it is to please the consumer ? and frankly they are right. We have become so jaded and spoiled that we believe that unblemished, large, cheap apples are a birthright! I have seen adults throw out an entire apple because it has a bruise. What happened to just cutting out the bruise or eating around it? What is so bad about that? Apples are the most important tree fruit crop in Canada, and the fourth most important worldwide after all citrus, grapes and bananas. But the greatest problem I found is that we export the same amount of apples as we import. Does that even make sense!?

What nature tells us ? is that we should eat what grows where we live. The project has made me aware, empowered me to request organics and to ask why grocers don't buy local produce. They don't, you know. Apples that are grown in Essex County are first shipped to Toronto and then distributed throughout Ontario from that hub. So unless you venture out to a pick-your-own operation you are getting apples past their prime!

Even organic products are problematic. The Gala organic apples Jeff brings me from Covent Garden Market, in London are not from the same farm as the organic apples we eat in the fall. Organic apples from southern Ontario tend to mould in storage and so I eat organic apples from BC in winter. Apples and potatoes are two of the easiest foods to overwinter when you have a proper set-up. But modern houses have no cold storage and hay is messy, so we prefer to allow large warehouses to do our storage. They may have efficient systems, but those systems are also costly to operate and sometimes costly to our environment. And then too, a day without oranges is a day without sunshine! ? but they don't grow in Canada, now do they?

Potatoes are another matter, for they are native to a region not too far away, and they have cousins that are tasty and extremely nutritious that grow well in this area. They are called Jerusalem Artichokes and I have grown them and I know that Michael has too. But they aren't pretty and smooth and easy to peel, so instead we ship potatoes from Florida and PEI. A government pamphlet recently reported that meals, in Canada travel an average of 2500 kms to the plate! Bumpety bumpety bump in a great big truck.

Unlike the agricultural methods of the Haudenosaunee people, monoculture farming is a vulnerable practice. But by today's economic standards it is "efficient". It's not good for the land, it's not good for local economies ? especially local farmers, and it's not good for people because it erodes communities ? we see it happening right before our eyes. But it works as a commodity within a commodity centered economic system. And we all know what it did in Ireland, not once, but twice. The Incas of Machu Pichu (which may have been a magnificient agricultural research station) developed and cultivated 3,000 kinds of potatoes. It took Cortez and the greed for gold to wipe them out.

So what have my Native ancestors taught me about this? What have my new Canadian clients taught me? Firstly they taught me humility. They taught me that the old ways have merit. They taught me that people matter. They taught me that you can't eat money ? or gold. They taught me how to cook simple foods and share them in a community of love and respect ? and that that is what tastes best. It tastes best at the meal and it leaves a pleasant taste long after.

When you consider that from a $2 cup of coffee, the grower receives 1 cent it is easy to see how large an impact our food choices have. But even more than the poverty and hunger that we create, we have deprived millions of their communities, their sense of dignity and worth ? their peace of mind. Instead of putting some "crap" dinner in that brown bag with Tim Horton's name splashed all over it, why not donate your time and energy to supporting and developing a local community kitchen. Lend your hand and perhaps a small piece of land to develop an organic community garden. From my personal experience I can assure you that you will be repaid a hundredfold.

Commit to tithing to your community, to giving back the luxuries you hoard ? your skills, your talents, your knowledge, your caring concern. For I have been taught and I know it to be true that within the original people's no one went hungry unless all went hungry and if one in our community was OR IS impoverished, stripped of dignity or hungry then the shame hangs on everyone's head. There is no escaping it. They say you cannot compare apples and oranges and I think that is true. You cannot compare them because they are not the same. They each belong but in different places and to different communities.

Among modern native communities there is a struggle going on. Some who have been raised on reserves call urban natives apples or potatoes, because they are only "red" on the outside and whiter than white on the inside. This racism can be viewed as a social commentary. As Alanis Morrisette would say "isn't it ironic" that food is used as a pejorative label? To me it demonstrates how deep the hunger goes.

Buying and eating food is a political, spiritual and ethical statement. It reflects on the very marrow of our value system. Every bite we put into our mouths says something about our ethics, our value systems. But what does it say about our happiness? Does this abundant, easy to access food fill us with joy? Is ignorance truly bliss?

Consider the example of the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan who measures their Gross National Happiness instead of their Gross Domestic Product? what if we decided to do the same? For instance, in a happiness poll from 2000, Puerto Rico was rated the #1 "happiest" country ? and we all know what a "rich and powerful" country they are in the GDP schema. They have shown us a better way; a way that says money is not equivalent to happiness, because countries that have used this yardstick have proven it. Can you imagine it?! Money ? no matter how much doesn't buy happiness. I bet you thought your granny was just pulling your leg. Maybe justice, liberty and peace, especially peace of mind is the real currency and not the "gold standard" the world wants us to buy into.

But money does buy apples, oranges, and potatoes. Vote for happiness with your dollars ? choose justice, be fair. Don't be like "Bear" ? share. You'll find peace of mind and if enough of us cultivate peace ? even in our one good mind ? it will be a reality. As above, so below. Aho! Sego!