Eating for Celebration

Cultivating Humility

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
Carl Sagan

Apple pie graces many celebratory tables at harvest time. The verb “to celebrate” comes from the Latin for “to honor.” American astronomer Carl Sagan eloquently reminded us that each morsel of food we consume is the product of all the life that ever was and enables us to perpetuate the cycle. Feasting is an opportunity to honor our interdependence with all forms of life, as we devour it.

A harvest feast offers gratitude for abundance but, let’s expand that story. Let’s honor that from which the abundance is born; rest, struggle, collaboration, competition, determination, and acceptance of what cannot be controlled. One in one million seedlings will eventually become a completely formed tree. Most will be ground into the soil, food for microorganisms. Is one destiny more valuable than the other? There would be no fruit, no tree, no orchard if it weren’t for the soil. At a mindful harvest feast, apple pie is humble pie in disguise. You, your apple pie, and the tree from which the apples grew are different recipes made from the same cosmic soup. You all require water, energy, and carbon to thrive. You are all a part of a universe that is constantly expanding. There is nothing you can do to stop change. It is inevitable. You can, however, behave in ways that restore a balance of give and take to our world. When we have all understood better how to read the language of nature and honor ourselves through actions that respect our interdependence, we will better our chances of extending life for our own species beyond the Anthropocene. Now that is something to celebrate.

Our final chapter on eating for celebration begins at the point of the year during which the cycle of most edible life ends, because that is where the cycle begins once again. I offer to you a harvest feast of thanksgiving designed to cultivate your humility through gratitude and some questions to consider how to pay it forward.

Ritual

Ritual with Food for Celebration: Peppering Pleasure with Purpose

You could eat a slice of cake 364 days a year, because you have a sweet tooth. But when you eat that piece of cake on your birthday, it has been transformed. Your birthday cake magically embodies your life story and your future dreams, and it connects you to those you hold most dear. The act of eating has meaning way beyond providing us with fuel. Pause and consider how you celebrate with food.

• At which celebrations does eating play a big part?

• Do you choose different foods for different celebrations? Why?

• Do different celebratory foods connect you to different people and places?

• Did you make decisions about the foods you traditionally eat at celebrations, or did you inherit the menu selection as a part of your culture?

• Do you know how those foods are produced?

• Considering how those foods are produced, which elements of nature could you honor in your next celebration? How?

Ritual

Ritual with Nature for Celebration: Gratitude is an Attitude

One ritual I have picked up living in Denmark is saying “Tak for Mad” when food is served. It means “Thanks for Food.” It is a simple and repeated utterance that offers gratitude for the food, for the person who prepared it, and I like to think that magical collaboration of people, plants, animals, wind, water, soil, sun, and the tiniest of microscopic organisms that made every morsel possible.

If you make a habit of one ritual in this book, let it be this one. Set your intent, and with love in your heart and food in your belly, utter a simple “tak for mad” every time you eat. It is a way to honor your understanding that nature isn’t out there, it’s in you.

Thanksgiving Can Travel Anywhere

I learned the story of the first American Thanksgiving, which took place in 1621, as a child in Fairport, New York. When religious pilgrims from England arrived in what they called Plymouth, Massachusetts, in fall 1620, they were unprepared for winter, and almost half of those who made the journey on the Mayflower died. Some native Wampanoag people shared skills with the colonists to teach them to thrive. At the next harvest, the colonists held a feast of Thanksgiving to show their gratitude. Tragically, as history tells, the compassion of the native people was not reciprocated much beyond that feast. Yet, what persists in the hearts and minds of Americans is the tale of interdependence and generosity.

Thanksgiving’s power to connect is so great that it first became an official national holiday when President Abraham Lincoln sought to heal a divided nation in a time of civil war. I haven’t lived in the United States for nearly twenty years, but everywhere I go, I take Thanksgiving with me and find myself celebrating with people from all over the world drawn to the allure of the act of thanksgiving. Yet, if the patriotic story is meaningless, why do they celebrate Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving speaks to our souls. It gives us a time to collectively honor ourselves (we reflect on what it is that makes us thrive and we are asked to share those thoughts), we honor others (those who have fed us, helped us, inspired us, supported us, challenged us, loved us), and we honor place (the biosphere that has nurtured the food upon which we feast and we are asked how we will pay it forward). Through the process of preparing, making, and sharing a feast, we develop a greater awareness how life itself enables us to thrive, if we choose to let it.

The recipes that follow offer a feast of Thanksgiving. Make it all at once or serve individual dishes with a “tak for mad” to bring a touch of thanksgiving to a midweek harvest meal.

◁ Mushroom, Zucchini, and Pumpkin Seed Canapés

Ever noticed the wonder on people’s faces as they hover over a tray of canapés? I think part of the awe is the shift in perspective; we don’t often eat quality food on our feet. When I serve these mushroom canapés, I imagine my guests as hunter-gatherers, grazing off the forest floor.

Serves

4

Ingredients

8 medium cremini mushrooms, brushed clean

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 zucchini, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard

Handful of pumpkin seeds (shown here), ground

2/3 cup dried bread crumbs

Pinch each of dried thyme and sage

Pinch of paprika

1 teaspoon coconut oil (optional)

Handful of fresh thyme leaves

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F, unless you intend to make these in advance. Remove the mushroom stems, dice, and set aside. Put a pinch of salt and pepper inside the mushroom caps, rub the outside with olive oil, and place, cap side down, on a baking sheet.

2. Warm the rest of the oil in a skillet and sauté the onion for 3 minutes before adding the zucchini and mushroom stems. Cook for another 3 minutes, then add the garlic and mustard. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the pumpkin seeds, bread crumbs, herbs, and paprika. Taste. I often add a teaspoon of coconut oil or olive oil at this stage. If time allows, let the stuffing sit for several hours to enhance the flavor.

3. Stuff each mushroom and bake for 15–20 minutes, until the caps brown and soften. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh thyme before serving.

Tip The amount of stuffing here is probably more than you need; any leftovers can be cooked and served separately.

How do our eating choices contribute to the life cycle?

Mushrooms are the fruits of mycelium, organisms that provide a tissuelike structure for forests to improve water and nutrient absorption and disease resistance for plants and trees. Mycelial colonies can extend for acres and are among the largest living organisms on the earth. By cutting off the nutrient and water supply to flora, fauna, and soil, mycelium can deplete entire forests with the purpose of instigating renewal.

Vegan Creamed Corn

No harvest feast is complete without corn of some variety. Fitting, because there would be no corn as we know it today without human intervention in the form of agriculture. Nature develops in response to other forms of nature. It is a constant dance.

Serves

4 as a side

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coconut oil

3 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup water, at room temperature

1/2 cup coconut milk

Pepper

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the corn kernels and sauté for 2–3 minutes or until it is warmed through and softened—try a kernel to test. Stir in the sugar and pepper. Cook until the liquid is absorbed by the corn.

2. Blend the cornstarch with the water in a small bowl as if you were making gravy—no lumps! Gradually add to the corn, stirring continuously. Add the coconut milk, reduce the heat, and cook until thickened. Season and serve.

How is your curiosity fired by your relationship with nature?

More than 9,000 years ago, people in Central America looked at wild grass and discovered that the evolutionary magic of cross pollination could produce what today we call corn, or sweet corn. Over the millennia, nomads and traders spread kernels of sweet corn around the globe, a journey documented in corn’s genomic scrapbook; corn possesses 12,000 more genes than a human being. Imagine the people, plants, pests, and paradises corn met along the way to being planted in cornfields so vast they can be seen from space.

Garlic Truffled Mashed Potatoes

Here, I team the unctuous mashed potatoes with the oil from a pungent fungus still much considered a luxury in our times—the truffle. Delicious, rare, and highly valued, truffles have a story to share that reminds us to honor the interdependence of all of nature.

Serves

6

Ingredients

1 head of garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 large starchy potatoes (such as Yukon Gold or russets), cubed

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup oat milk

2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

1/4 cup truffle oil, plus extra to serve

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. To roast the garlic, cut the tip off the head to expose the cloves, put it onto the lined sheet, and drizzle with the oil. Use the paper to wrap the garlic into a bundle and roast for 25 minutes.

3. Put the potatoes into a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, until soft. Drain well and return to the pan.

4. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins into a bowl and mash. Add the broth, milk, butter or coconut oil, and truffle oil and mix together. Gradually pour the liquid over the potatoes and mash until the potatoes are creamy and fluffy. (I keep them unpeeled; this adds texture to the dish.) Season to taste. Add a drizzle of truffle oil before serving.

What do luxurious truffles teach us about humility?

Truffles grow underground and need help from mobile animals to reproduce. So truffles learned to replicate the aroma of boar pheromones, which no able-snouted gilt in heat can resist! After the animal eats the truffles, the spores are spread in its dung, helping the fungus to multiply. We must be careful if we want our love affair with truffles to continue, because weather conditions related to climate change have caused a marked decline in European truffle harvests in the past one hundred years.

◁ Oven-roasted Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts enjoy pride of place on feasting tables way beyond Belgium, and rightly so. This robust brassica is harvested late because sprouts remain on their stems after reaching maturity, which is preferable—they will taste sweeter.

Serves

4 as a side

Ingredients

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

Pickled pumpkin or preserved lemon, chopped, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Check the Brussels sprouts and peel off any outer leaves with dirt or insects and add to your compost bin. Mix the oil and red pepper flakes with a pinch of salt and pepper in a small dish. Spread the sprouts evenly on a baking sheet and drizzle with the oil mix. Toss them with a spoon a few times to evenly distribute the oil. Roast for 30–40 minutes, turning a few times. The outer leaves will become crispy, but the inner sprout should stay tender.

3. Season and mix with pickled pumpkin or the rind of a preserved lemon before serving.

Which is hardier, humans or Brussels sprouts?

How often do you look at a vegetable and feel inspired by its resilience? When you think about how plants withstand heat, storms, and frost, it is hard not to marvel at their strength. When it comes to immune-boosting winter foods, such as Brussels sprouts, there is no denying that, physically, we derive much of our resilience from theirs. Maybe our mental resilience, too.

Maple-roasted Carrots

More often than not, there is a small pitcher of maple syrup in my kitchen. It is used sparingly and treated as an absolute luxury that I import from the northeastern American land where I was born. When I do use it, I like to ponder the mystery of how humans came to discover tree sap.

Serves

4 as a side

Ingredients

6 carrots (about 1 pound)

1 tablespoon granola oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put a baking sheet in the oven to warm. Peel and chop the carrots into chunks, on the diagonal. Reserve the peels for your broth box or to make carrot powder (see recipe facing page).

2. Toss the carrots with the oil and a pinch of salt, spread on the baking sheet, and roast for 15 minutes. Remove, pour the maple syrup over them, and roast for another 20 minutes. Remove when the carrots have browned and are soft. Season to serve.

What value does syrup provide for the maple tree?

Legend tells that maple syrup was discovered when a Native American threw a hatchet at a tree and out poured sugary gold. But don’t picture a geyser exploding! Sap flows are prompted by the change in atmospheric conditions when the winter thaw begins. This triggers sap to flow to bring nutrients up from the roots and circulate stored sugar, which provides the energy for spring to be sprung. It is more probable that rapt attention to the small details of the cycle of life led to the discovery of maple syrup.

Zero-waste Carrot Powder

In the spirit of honoring our interdependence on things we usually think of as mundane, don’t toss your carrot peels. Instead, dry them, grind them, and transform them into a powder. I find that the peels pack an intensely earthy and carroty flavor. I use the powder to dust soups, salads, add to bread dough, and rim whiskey glasses, as one would a margarita.

Ingredients

Carrot peels

Method

1. Each time you have carrot peels, store them in a freezer container. When full, thaw and dehydrate. If you have a dehydrator, spread out the peel and use the vegetable setting. Otherwise, place the peels on a wire cooling rack, allowing some space between them so that air reaches all sides. Turn the oven to its lowest setting, place your rack on a baking sheet, and let the peels dry for 5–6 hours. They are ready when dry to the touch but not yet brittle.

2. Process in a food processor or coffee grinder to a powder. Store in an airtight jar for up to three months.

How do you honor your relationship with food when you eat?

“Les carottes sont cuites. Je répète. Les carottes sont cuites.” (“The carrots are cooked. I repeat. The carrots are cooked.”) So began the BBC broadcast on June 5, 1944, enigmatically alerting the French that the Invasion of Normandy had begun. Never rationed, carrots were praised for supposedly enhancing the eyesight needed during blackouts and raids. Resourceful cooks turned carrots into cakes, Indian curries, and Christmas puddings. Carrots represented honor. To honor carrots, I waste not by making this zero-waste carrot powder.

Butter

Making butter is a simple process we don’t need to delegate to industry. Going through the motions with intent helps to kindle new respect for ourselves as nature, and for domesticated animals, such as cows, which have been part of the human story for millennia.

Makes

About 1/2 cup (4 ounces—the same as 1 stick)

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream

Method

1. Select a clean, screw-top jar that can hold double the amount of liquid, but not much more. Remove the cream from the refrigerator an hour beforehand; it needs to be warm. Pour the cream into the jar, filling it halfway. Screw the lid on tightly. Shake vigorously for 7–10 minutes. After about 4 minutes, you should have whipped cream. After 6 minutes, you should start to hear a ball sloshing in liquid. Shake for another minute.

2. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and pour the contents out of the jar. Place the butterball in a bowl and bathe it with a few teaspoons of water as you knead it gently to squeeze out all the buttermilk, so that the butter will last longer. Mold your butter into shape, and put it into the refrigerator until ready to serve. You can drink your buttermilk, or use it in baking or the stuffing recipe (facing page).

How can you honor your natural heritage as you cook?

Energy can be transformed but not destroyed, as knew every milkmaid ever. Lending elbow grease to a churn heats cream, and as molecules move faster, the dense fat molecules clump together, separate from buttermilk, and a butterball is born.

Maple Butter

Forests, soil, grasses, farms, and human and natural history all combine to make this decadent celebration spread.

Serves

8 as a spread

Ingredients

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup (4 ounces) butter (see above)

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Put the maple syrup into a small saucepan with a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter until it melts, then whisk for 10 minutes, until the texture is fluffy. Refrigerate to harden. As it cools, the butter may separate. If it has, stir before serving.

Buttermilk Herbed Stuffing

When you separate the fat solids from the rest of your cream, you end up with tangy buttermilk. Combine it with day-old bread for a new take on a traditional side dish that’s destined to steal the show.

Serves

5 as a side

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (see recipe facing page)

1 red onion, chopped

2 celery sticks, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon chopped sage leaves

1 tablespoon thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

12 ounces chanterelle or other seasonal mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup vegetable broth

7 slices sourdough bread (day-old is perfect), rubbed into crumbs

1/2 cup buttermilk (from the butter recipe, facing page)

1 egg

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the onions. Once they have softened, about 6 minutes, add the celery, herbs, and pepper. Cook for another 4 minutes, then add the mushrooms. It will take about 5 minutes for the mushrooms to become tender, depending on how crowded they are. Once tender, add the broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the bread, buttermilk, and egg and mix until the bread is coated.

2. Let cool, then refrigerate the stuffing for a day to let the flavors develop. Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a medium baking dish. Transfer the stuffing to the dish and bake 20–30 minutes, until golden brown on top.

How does our behavior in one season ensure our survival in the next?

When we stuff ourselves at winter feasts, culture mirrors nature: we’re fattening ourselves for the lean season. If rations are thin in spring, we’ll be hungry but we’ll have energy to burn. To honor our seasonal selves, add stuffing to vegetarian feasts. While the Roman chef Apicius in the pages of De re Coquinaria (“On the Subject of Cooking”) stuffed everything, even a dormouse, archaeological evidence indicates that stuffing was also prepared as a vegetarian side dish.

◁ Short and Stout Bread

Bread baking is transformative—a process you nurture, with the help of yeast and heat. You can leave all the heavy lifting to yeast if you bake bread with beer!

Makes

1 9 x 5-inch loaf

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for greasing

13/4 cups whole-wheat flour

13/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard

11/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch each of chili powder, paprika, cumin, thyme, and oregano

1 extra-large egg

11/2 cups stout

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease and line the bottom of a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

2. Mix together the flours, mustard, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix the oil, egg, and beer. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

3. Transfer the dough to the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack before turning the loaf out of the pan.

How can we feast to create bonds with the natural world?

Feasting, lubricated by beer, is a centuries-old ritual that has been used by humans to create bonds. As feasting became a cornerstone of culture, we cemented our bonds with one another and a bevy of other life-forms, including yeast, the single-celled fungi afloat in the air that gives rise to our bread and makes our beer foam. Baking beer bread heightens my awareness of all the invisible life that shape my own experience. Climate change and environmental degradation impact on microorganisms as much as on those we can see. How will that change our lives?

◁ Spiced Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

While serving pumpkin soup in its hollowed-out skin is not essential, it is a visual cue to diners to pay homage to the cycle of life and all the elements of nature that enable you and the pumpkin to thrive.

Serves

6

Ingredients

1 large Halloween pumpkin

1 small Hokkaido pumpkin

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 onion, chopped

1 head of garlic, cloves separated and chopped

1/2 chile, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 cup white wine

2 cups vegetable broth

13/4 cups coconut milk

Method

1. Cut a circle in the top of your Halloween pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and fibers. Save all the seeds for roasting (recipe below). Remove as much flesh as possible but leave enough so that the skin can serve as a stable tureen. Peel and chop your Hokkaido pumpkin. In total, you need about 9 cups of prepared flesh.

2. Warm the oil in a large stockpot and cook the onion, garlic, and chile until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the pumpkin flesh, bay leaves, spices, wine, and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and using a handheld mixer, blend to a creamy consistency.

3. Serve the soup in the pumpkin tureen, sprinkled with roasted pumpkin seeds. After serving the soup, rinse out the pumpkin tureen. The following day, cut up the flesh, roast it with a tablespoon of olive oil, and serve it with a drizzle of tahini and a sprinkling of parsley.

How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse the seeds to remove all the fibers and pat them dry. Transfer to a bowl and coat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin and a pinch of salt.

2. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast for 10–15 minutes or until they are golden brown, keeping a close eye. Let cool, then transfer to an airtight container.

Why are you grateful for food?

What’s the worth of thick-skinned pumpkins? When harvested and placed in a cool dry place, they stay resiliently nourishing throughout the winter. And is it sheer coincidence that these late-season bloomers are also packed with immune system boosting beta-carotene? From the pumpkin’s resilience, comes your resilience.

◁ Pumpkin Pie Bars

As the song goes: “There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy, when they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie.” For centuries, we have honored the harvest with this stick-to-your-ribs treat.

Makes

12–18 bars

Ingredients

For the crust

5 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil, plus extra for greasing

1 cup rolled oats

11/3 cups whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons apple molasses or honey

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 eggs

For the filling

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup oat milk or peanut milk

1 (151/2-ounce) can of pumpkin or 1 Hokkaido pumpkin or butternut squash (about 11/2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks

Method

1. To stew your own pumpkin, put the prepared flesh into a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil, then cover the pan and simmer for 20–30 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender. Drain and mash the pumpkin. Set aside to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 12 x 9-inch baking pan. To make the crust, put the oats into a food processor and grind to a coarse flour, then add it to a mixing bowl with the whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter or oil with the apple molasses or honey, maple syrup and eggs. Fold the wet into the dry ingredients.

3. Transfer the dough to the pan and press into an even layer, making sure you fill the corners. Lay a piece of parchment paper on top, fill with pie weights or dried beans, and bake for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the filling by combining the sugar, spices, and salt in a bowl. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl, stir in the milk, then fold into the sugar and spices. Add the pumpkin and mix until smooth.

5. Remove the pan from the oven, take out the weights and paper, and pour the filling over the crust. Return to the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°F, and cook for about 30 minutes. The pie is done when the filling starts to brown and feels spongy but firm to the touch. Cut into bars while still warm.

Why do humans use feasts to perpetuate culture?

For decades, Sarah Josepha Hale, an abolitionist, author, and editor in nineteenth-century North America, campaigned to have Thanksgiving declared a unifying national holiday. In her novel Northwood, she wrote that at Thanksgiving, “the pumpkin pie occupied the most distinguished niche.” Perhaps because the dish so deeply ties people to time and to place.

Ritual

Pickled Pumpkin

Pickling pumpkin with intent is a great way to consider what it is that you aim to preserve as you embark on the making process. Sure, as an outcome you’ll have pumpkin for salads, snacks, and sandwiches throughout the winter. But the making process is even more important for honoring time, place, heritage, and your part in the cycle of life. What are you trying to preserve? What are you trying to innovate?

Makes

1 (1-quart) jar

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup white wine vinegar

2 cinnamon sticks

8 whole cloves

3 tablespoons mustard seeds

61/2 cups peeled and diced pumpkin

Method

1. Put the sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, and mustard seeds into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, add the pumpkin, and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, process your canning jars according to the directions shown here.

3. Spoon the pumpkin into each jar and fill with the pickling liquid, making sure that you leave a 1/2-inch gap at the top. Immediately place sterilized lids on each filled jar and seal. When all the jars are sealed, process them to keep them shelf-stable for up to six months (follow the directions shown here).

How do you honor yourself when you honor other forms of life?

“It would be becoming of us to speak modestly of our place in the universe. Let me offer a metaphor. Earth relates to the universe as the second segment of the left antenna of an aphid sitting on a flower petal in the garden in Teaneck, New Jersey, for a few hours this afternoon.” E. O. Wilson

Native American agrarians cultivated personal humility as they nurtured regenerative food systems. The “Three Sisters” (corn, beans, and pumpkins) represented a microcosm of the food web they served. Corn was planted to provide a trellis upon which soil-feeding (nitrogen-fixing) beans would weave their way to the sky, while helping to support the corn stalks during storms. Pumpkins would grow in the shade of the corn and, as they plumped, would help to retain moisture in the soil during scorching summers. It’s a tale I consider when I pickle pumpkin for seasonal gifts to reinforce my intent to develop a nature-relatedness practice to become the change from head to hands to habit.

◁ Tart and Tangy Wild Berry Sauce

Cranberries were apparently shared by Native Americans and settlers at the first Thanksgiving meal in 1621, thanks to the Native Americans’ foraging abilities. Astute observers and experimenters in their North American environment, Native Americans ate wild cranberries long before the fruit’s association with the feasting day.

Serves

6

Ingredients

32/3 cups cranberries

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup red wine

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Method

1. Wash and pick over the berries. Combine the sugar, wine, cinnamon, anise, orange zest, and ginger in a saucepan. Bring to a boil until the sugar is dissolved and the wine slightly reduced. Add the berries and simmer until the sauce has thickened, which takes 10–15 minutes.

2. Remove from the heat. Fish out the cinnamon sticks and star anise. Mash the sauce if necessary. Refrigerate before serving.

3. If you want to increase the quantities to make more sauce for another day, process by following the directions shown here.

Why do you think some wild plants were more easily domesticated than others?

If you have access to organic cranberries to serve at your Thanksgiving feast, go for it! If not, take the road less traveled to make a difference. Wild cranberries don’t take well to domestication and dangerous toxins that poison water systems are poured into bogs to enable a controlled harvest. If you love how the tart cranberry cuts the richness of a feast, opt for any tangy organic or foraged berry instead. Sea buckthorn, chokeberries, lingonberries, blackberries, and even blueberries will do.

◁ Baked Sweet Potato and Apple

Baked sweet potato and apple was a holiday tradition in my childhood home, concocted by my dad. It brings together savory and sweet with warming winter spices, the smell of which take me immediately back to upstate New York in the 1980s—wherever I am.

Serves

4 as a side

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coconut oil, plus extra for greasing

2 small to medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into slices about 1/2 inch thick

2 apples, cored and sliced thinly

Juice of 2 oranges (you need about 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons ginger juice

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons rosemary leaves

Sugar

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a medium baking dish. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add the sweet potato slices. Bring back to a boil, cook for 3 minutes, drain, then cool.

2. Form a layer of sweet potatoes and apples in the pan as if making a lasagne. Mix the coconut oil with the juices and the cinnamon. Sprinkle the juices, rosemary, and a dash of sugar on each layer. Continue to form layers until all the ingredients are used, reserving some liquid to drizzle over the top layer. Cover the dish and bake for 30–40 minutes, until soft and starting to brown.

3. Serve warm with other savory dishes in this chapter.

How does eating connect us to place?

Sweet potato is neither a potato nor a yam. It is a member of the morning glory family Convolvulaceae, with a lineage that is thought to go back 57 million years. Africans introduced yams to the Americas when slave traders forced their relocation. Their yams didn’t prosper, so they nurtured the native sweet potatoes, which are similar tasting. Sweet potato, which has few pests or diseases and grows well in sandier soil, became a reliable staple that connected people to places near and far. It is honored with extra sweet treatment when it graces a Thanksgiving table.

Spiced Applesauce

From the “forbidden fruit” to Newton’s apple, for different people in different cultures, apples represent temptation, intelligence, eternal life, death, sin, and even national identity. Part of food culture is using food as a reference for the human condition. Why that is the case is something to stew on as this applesauce cooks.

Serves

10

Ingredients

8 tart apples (such as McIntosh, Pippin, or Braeburn)

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Method

1. Peel and core the apples, reserving the peel to make apple powder (follow the directions shown here). Chop the apples into chunks.

2. Bring the water and honey to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the apples and spices and simmer for 20–30 minutes, until the apples become mushy and the water content reduces. Use a fork to mash. Serve warm or chilled. Keep some in a container in the freezer for up to two months.

What cultural associations or phrases come to your mind when you consider apples?

Bio-artist Joe Davis has been working with geneticists to encode all of Wikipedia into the genomes of apples to create an orchard that documents humanity. Literally and figuratively, we humans derive a lot of meaning from apples, and it goes way beyond the food on our plate.

Apple Molasses

There are more than 7,500 known apple varieties on the earth. The variance of tastes and textures are arguably as complex as fine wines. Unsurprisingly, then, you can use apples for purposes you have yet to consider, including molasses made from local cider.

Makes

4 (10-ounce) jars

Ingredients

4–8 quarts unfiltered nonalcoholic apple juice or cider, or use a low-alcohol cider from a local producer

1 cinnamon stick

Method

1. Pour the juice or cider into a heavy, nonreactive saucepan that is large enough for the liquid to boil vigorously. Add the cinnamon stick. Slowly bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 3 hours, stirring and skimming occasionally. The end of the reduction requires constant stirring to prevent scorching. Your molasses is done when it coats the back of a spoon and has the consistency of maple syrup. It will be about one-tenth of its original volume—his is necessary for your molasses to be shelf stable.

2. Boil bottles or jars to sterilize them (shown here) before adding your molasses. Once opened, keep the molasses in the refrigerator for up to six months.

How can you celebrate biodiversity when you cook?

As observers at the World Wildlife Fund have explained: “Sugar has had as great an impact on the environment as any other agricultural commodity. Wholesale conversion of habitat on tropical islands and in coastal areas has led to significant environmental damage—particularly a loss of biodiversity.” Making apple molasses using unfiltered apple juice or cider from a local mill provides an alternative. Baking with intent honors the cacophony of biodiverse life that makes yours sweeter.

◁ Apple Molasses and Goat Cheese Pancakes

Maple syrup isn’t produced in most parts of the world, but apples are. Add some sweetness to a winter’s night by making these savory pancakes topped with apple molasses made from a locally produced cider.

Makes

8 pancakes

Ingredients

12/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Leaves from a few fresh thyme sprigs, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons zero-waste carrot powder

1 egg

11/4 cups oat milk or buttermilk

2/3 cup crumbled goat cheese

2 tablespoons canola oil

To serve

Apple molasses

Spiced applesauce

Fresh thyme sprigs

Method

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, thyme, carrot powder, and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and mix with the milk. Combine the dry and wet ingredients to form a batter. Cool in the refrigerator for 15–20 minutes before mixing crumbled goat cheese into the batter.

2. Heat one-quarter of the oil in a large skillet and add a ladleful of pancake batter. In 2–3 minutes, bubbles will appear on the surface, indicating that it’s ready to be flipped. Cook on the other side for 2–3 minutes or until golden. When the pancake is cooked, put it on a plate, covered with a dish towel to keep warm, while you make the rest. Depending on the size of your pan, you may be able to make several at a time.

3. Plate up the pancakes, drizzle with apple molasses, and serve with a dollop of applesauce and fresh thyme.

How is winter an important part of the cycle of life?

Before electricity, humans had no choice but to do less in the dark winter, and meals would have been mainly comprised of preserved foods. In winter, take some of your days as slow as molasses while you linger over these pancakes. Before you do, stand outside your door, take a few deep breaths, and try to align your inner pace with that of the nonhuman life that surrounds you.

Apple Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

The idea of gingerbread men started in sixteenth-century England, an age in which spices, such as ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, were luxuries. Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth I asked for gingerbread to be served in the shapes of visiting dignitaries to demonstrate hospitality while reminding visitors of her power and wealth.

Makes

36

Ingredients

3/4 cup (6 ounces) butter

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (preferably beet sugar; choose what is local to you)

1/3 cup ginger syrup or light corn syrup

generous 1 cup apple molasses

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice or ground cloves

1 extra-large egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

31/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

Method

1. Mix together the butter, sugar, ginger syrup, apple molasses, salt, and spices, then beat in the egg. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix to form a dough. Cut the dough in half, put into airtight containers, and place in the refrigerator to firm up for at least 2 hours.

2. Once the dough has hardened, preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2–3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Flour a clean surface and roll one of your pieces of dough into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Dip a 21/4-inch cookie cutter in flour, cut out shapes, and space apart on the baking sheets. (Or simply pull off chunks of dough, roll into a ball slightly smaller than a golf ball, and flatten with your thumb.) Repeat with the second piece of dough. Bake for 8–12 minutes, or until the cookies feel firm to the touch. Keep a close eye to check that the edges do not burn. Cool and store in an airtight container.

How can you honor your environment when you bake gingerbread?

I consider sugar as a luxury good, and I tend to bake on only rare occasions, because limiting sugar is as good for the planet in terms of minimizing ecosystem destruction as it is for people. Even locally sourced beet sugar is only better than imported cane sugar if it isn’t produced as a monocrop. Usually, I opt for the sweetness of homemade apple molasses instead.

Apple Shrub

At one time, shrubs were believed to have medicinal properties and provided a good source of acidity for cooking before people had access to lemons year-round.

Makes

4 (10-ounce) jars

Ingredients

2 small tart apples (such as Braeburn or McIntosh)

1/4 cup freshly grated ginger root

1 cup sugar

1 cup apple cider vinegar

Method

1. Grate the unpeeled apples and mix with the ginger, sugar, and vinegar. Let the shrub ferment for three days.

2. Strain through a sieve set over a bowl to separate the apples and ginger from the liquid and squeeze the apples dry. Pour the shrub into clean jars and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Temptation Preservation Cocktail

This cocktail requires two homemade preserves, apple shrub and apple molasses, so plan ahead.

Makes

1

Ingredients

3 tablespoons whiskey (I use single malt Glenlivet)

1 tablespoon vodka

1 tablespoon apple shrub

2 teaspoons apple molasses

Ice

Optional

For a nonalcoholic tipple, omit the liquor and top with sparkling water

Method

1. Fill a martini glass with ice to chill. Add ice to your cocktail shaker. Add the whiskey, vodka, apple shrub, and apple molasses. Now add the ice from your glass to the cocktail shaker, put the top on, and SHAKE!

2. Strain into the glass. Add a cinnamon stick for sensual panache.

What relation with nature will you preserve from your feast?

Feasts exist to raise our spirits, and spirits have always been part of feasting. A tipple or two creates feelings of freedom and that freedom helps to form bonds to people, time, and place. Here’s to raising a glass to the cacophony of autumnal life and how endings are the magic makers of new beginnings.