A Manifesto and an Ending

I went to Italy with a plan.  Oh sure, I was open-minded to new things.  But I found as the coursework continued that I was discovering more what I didn't want to do than what I did. 

A freelance food writer and photographer requires tremendous discipline in return for instability and low pay - and it turns out I'm not passionate enough to sacrifice.  A professional taster - well, let's just say I fight hard for every scrap of taste memory.  And as much as I fell in love with Food Anthropology as taught by the inimitable Carole Counihan, or revisiting my History degree through food with Allen Grieco, those are fields of further study, not jobs.

I didn't realize how attached I was to my plan to create a sustainable food studies curriculum at my high school until I received that email.  All funding has been cut, no food lab to be built in the foreseeable future.  Two years of planning, gone.

But what was a massive blow in the moment turned out to be a blessing.  Not only did it open my eyes to new opportunities in my internship and future, but it forced me to a personal, creative definition of food education, one that doesn't rely solely on a standard education system.

The Cookery School at Bordeaux Quay is only one of the many organizations leading the way in food education through community alliances.  But it is in being inspired by their people, programs and passion that my new ideas are taking shape.

What if the acts of preparing, learning about and eating food together are one of the agents of social change we as a society keep searching for so desperately?  That food education comprehensively impacts health, social awareness and personal fulfillment on a scale not achievable by other subjects?  After all - we must all eat to live - what could be more accessible than that?

And what if the policy of mandatory food education is only a part of the puzzle?  Clearly, food education  as a whole in the current school system isn't even close to reaching its full potential.  And with consistent cuts to education across the board, I believe the gaps can only be filled by community: teachers, school systems, cooking schools, local business and nutritionists working together and building on their individual strengths.

The pedagogy and might of the education system, the passion and practical knowledge of cooking schools, added to by the health and scientific understanding of nutritionists and the skills and funding of local business . . . therein lies an exciting path for food education.  And I intend to place myself smack in the middle of this new movement on my return home.

These ideas, the basis of my thesis, are fledgling.  There remain many gaps, points to ponder and always, questions to ask.  But being given a year, a school, an internship, access to passionate people and producers to expand my way of thinking and a vision for the future?  I'm still in awe.

As I pack my bags to end this beautiful, terrible, unexpected year, steeling myself for rounds of bittersweet goodbyes, I am continually struck by one buoyant thought:  Anything is possible.

And to my somewhat cynical, 33 year old self, that heart and head knowledge has made every single second of this year utterly worthwhile.

Post thesis-defence aperitivo with Carlo Petrini