I took a winter course on “Food, Culture, and Communication” co-taught by the lovely Sohpie Esser-Calvi and her husband Ben. We spent a lot of time sharing our own food stories and listening and reading those of others. It was incredibly powerful to hear students’ experiences with food; everything from diving for clams in Cape Cod to trading traditional Jewish foods in middle school during lunch time for the highly coveted Gushers. I could connect with every story and it wasn’t like we were all great storytellers. Reading Wendell Berry’s piece about Andy Catlett made me realize that the reason I found these food stories so fascinating and relatable was that they were all about food. Even though I hadn’t eaten spam musubi nor had I eaten the mangos in Costa Rica, Berry’s story made me realize that I could relate because I know what it is like to eat.

Andy Catlett’s experience with his grandmother really struck a cord with me. His writing is incredibly accessible as even though not all are familiar with rural farm life, grandmothers, or even pies, we all know food. There is something about sharing food stories that is palpable in a way no other fiction is.

I think this is because food is the ultimate sensory experience. It provides us with an endless array of smells, tastes, textures, and sounds. Often times food sticks around long after it was first consumed in our bodies, providing a friendly reminder of the experience we have had. Eating is the most physically-holistic experience out there. Food forms our bodies and our experiences affecting everything from energy levels, sleep habits, and overall health and is something that we engage with everyday. Stories like Berry’s connect us in ways that other literature can’t as they play on this common experience and joy of eating.

Going back to Sophie’s comment during the video panel with Bill McKibben, Helen Young, Dara Scott, and Kirk Webster, the way to connect with people and create meaningful change is by taping into the pleasure and love for and from food. Sharing food stories, while seemingly not much more than an entertaining ice-breaker has the ability to connect and unite people prompting greater systemic change. If someone were to tell me now, after having read Berry’s story, that wild black raspberries were becoming endangered I am much more likely to stand up and do something about it as now I better understand the significance it has to real people if they were to become extinct.