Tired Tuna

Everything is spiritual. My cellulite is spiritual. Toilet paper is spiritual. The fact that I am a horrible typist who is struggling to repeatedly type the word "spiritual" is spiritual. Your kid's bath toys are spiritual. Consumerism is spiritual. Horseradish is spiritual. Where the heck am I going with this?

Food is spiritual. The earth is spiritual. I was listening to a sermon from a church called Mars Hill in Michigan. Rob Bell, the pastor, told this fabulous story about tuna. Did you know some of the best tuna in the world for sushi comes in right off the east coast of the United States, in Massachusetts? Once it is caught, it's driven to JFK airport in NYC. Next, it is flown to Toyko, to the best fish market in the world. Brokers from restaurants all over the world come to shop at this market. It will be bought, driven to an airport, where it will then fly back to JFK and be shipped to a restaurant in Manhattan and sold under the label "fresh tuna."

Next slide [if you go to Mars Hill, you understand this reference; I don't because I can't see the blooming slide through my computer, but he says it a lot and I think it's poignant and clever].

You need tomatoes, or green peppers or [insert vegetable of choice] in January. Do you:

A) Sigh a long sad sigh and restlessly await summer's return.
B) Fly to Brazil and pick up a couple.
C) Drive to the supermarket, buy what you need, drive back home, make yourself a salad and not think twice about where in the world Food Lion got tomatoes in the middle of winter.

Personally I fly to Brazil because that's just how I roll. But I'm going to guess that a lot of people chose C.

And just how does this questionnaire relate to The Last Ten Pounds? Well, since this is my cyber voice I want to use it to do more than just slim down. I've been thinking a lot about where food comes from. Were the people who worked the fields that produced those vegetable paid a fair wage? How far did the food have to travel? What was the cost of fuel to transport it?

If everything is spiritual then that means this blog can either help bring me closer to my Creator or push me towards vanity.

But, I can't rant about this subject on some High Horse of Gardening, because it hadn't even entered my mind until several weeks ago.

Sure, I recycle. I use those cool new light bulbs [and really I can't for the life of me understand why anyone wouldn't want to [they last for five freaking years [I've heard naysayers claim thir light is "unflattering" [and they take a second to turn on [what? [maybe I just look good in any light, but honestly, I see no difference [and did I mention they last for five freaking years?]]]]]]]. But I never gave food a second thought. Aside from the fact that I believe eating out might be my love language [yeah, I know, that's another blog [and maybe also a trip to my therapist]].

But if God is green, and I think He is, then He cares about this stuff. Just like He cares when I devour a whole cheesecake [gluttony, what?].

So, I am going to make it a point to figure out where at least some of my food is coming from. It's a process. I'm not going vegan tomorrow or anything [praise God, don't know what I'd do without licorice]. If that means I do some research on growing some of my own grub, so be it [and if anyone wants to pitch in and buy me an earthbox, sweet]. If that means I spend some time and money at the farmer's market, super.

Whatever it takes! Whatever it costs! No matter the distance! I'm in.

As long as it doesn't add up to more than 1050 calories.