Self-denial and solidarity in a place of abundance.

As part of our Lenten discipline, Nicole and I began a new diet on Ash Wednesday, something that we both know lots of people do for Lent. However, this plan is different in that it doesn't require us to starve (i.e. when I eat, I feel like I have eaten), but it does require us to eat better food, and by that I don't mean light this or fat free that, I mean better quality food. We're in the first phases now, which means that some things I'll be able to integrate into my diet later I can't yet have, even though if we keep to the plan after Lent (and we're going to) some of those things will be allowed again. The basic principle of the plan (there are variants and some are stricter than others) is that if something is a natural food, you may either eat it or you will be able to eat it eventually, but if something has been refined or processed in an unnatural way, or if it has had unnatural colors or preservatives added to it, it is forbidden. This requires some skill at label-reading and knowing what strange sounding ingredients are really some acceptable natural derivative and which are something artificial and forbidden.


Leading up to Lent, we eased our way into the plan by occasionally eating meals filled with foods that either would be allowed on the diet in the initial phases, or would be eventually allowed. (Refined sugar is totally prohibited at any time, so those of you who know of my love for cookies, I beg of you not to tempt me with them, especially since I have done well to avoid sugar thus far). We also went on a couple of good shopping trips to make sure that our fridge and pantry is filled with good food that we can eat. There isn't anything special about most of this food, but it is natural food. The biggest obvious "newfangled" foods we have to buy are salts that are rich in minerals (and thus have color), as opposed to the refined table salt we are all used to. This experience has led me to what may be a new kind of solidarity with the poor, and not because of food deprivation as you might expect.


Preparing our pantry and home as we need to in order that we might eat right and eat well is not an easy task, but it isn't because the foods we need are not available-they are. Rather, it is because good food is expensive. We have seen a marked increase in our grocery bill, and were it not for the fact that we raise goats and chickens and have access to clean meat and will have fresh milk (from which to make our own cheese, yogurt, and even sometimes butter) in the middle spring, I don't know if we could even afford to do this the way it should be done. America is one of the few countries in the world where obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and related illnesses are especially problems among the very poor, and that is especially the case in Appalachia. Many of our poor are well-fed, but they are truly malnourished. It has struck me during the process of preparing for this new lifestyle change that a big reason for that may be that the food that is the cheapest, that which the very poor can afford may fill their bellies in this country, but that food is killing them-filled as it is with additives, preservatives, and artificial things to make it "go further," so that it is cheaper to make and process and can yield the most profit, and cheaper for the consumer to afford.

We truly live in a land of great plenty and abundance, and as such it seems so wrong that the worst food that can be consumed is often the cheapest, meaning that those without means who are just trying to get by will be inclined to eat what they can most afford, rather than the best quality food which is more expensive. The poor aren't the only ones with that problem of course, since a lot of us have bought things to eat without really knowing what is in them. However, what I think to be most disturbing is the amount of good quality nutritious food that is thrown away in our country every day. I'm not talking about the leftovers we might leave on our dinner plates, I'm talking about the perfectly edible food that grocery stores, restaurants, food service providers, and other entities throw away every day, and they do this while there are people who can barely find the money to buy food, and while there are children in America who go to bed hungry.


In no way to I propose that we should regulate food prices in law-the Soviet Union tried that and it was a bitter failure, and our farmers and ranchers are entitled to make a good living for the hard work of their hands. What I have come to believe is that we have perverted the free-market system by divorcing it from the underlying principles of Christianity that built Western culture and ultimately insured that freedom of agriculture and commerce. We have become a society where the making of profit or the having of things is more important than the keeping of morals or the protection of principle, and that extends to all aspects of our daily life-including how we feed ourselves and feed the poor.


Jesus said "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me...Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?'...And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’" (cf. Matt. 25:35-40)