Add to Queue: Raina Bergasse’s Food Revelations
A selection of curated media lists from our global community
words – raina bergasse
location – edinburgh, uk
I think I had my food revelation during Covid, at home in St. Lucia. It was a good place to begin, because things grow easily there in the tropical sun. Stuck at home, I was curious about cultivating things and watching with satisfaction as they grew. I knew what it was like to eat a mango freshly picked from the tree, still warm from the sun, but I also wanted to pluck vegetables and herbs from their stems and add to my cooking, enjoying the health benefits they deliver. I made a raised bed with my dad, dug up fresh soil from the compost heap, planted herbs and beans and flowers and painstakingly watered them and watched them; I guarded against slugs, and greeted the tender greenlings every morning with my coffee as I sat on the back step of my parents’ house.
There’s something crazily simple about growing plants from seed; you know what’s happening in a school science kind of way, but in another sense, it’s mind bogglingly hard to wrap your head around the billions [surely] of tiny evolutionary steps that allowed life to be stored in a tiny seed and then sprout, and for you as a human to know how to activate that process, and gather sustenance from your labour.
It wasn’t until I started experimenting with gardening and making food from scratch that I truly felt connected to the things I loved to eat and the benefits to my wellbeing that they provided. Food holds so many core memories and often ties you to the most integral parts of yourself. It is joy, and fuel and a medium for connection. But it’s also all tangled up in a complex system that is mostly unfair, and unkind to the earth.
The way we produce and consume food, and the kinds of food we consume, is often a tense battlefield – lines are constantly being redrawn in shifting sand, according to trends, research, corporate marketing, fear mongering and globalisation. But if we start by trying to understand the complex system that delivers food to your plate, feeling more connected to the earth that allows it all to happen, and we explore the plethora of cultural influences within cooking and eating, then we might just be able to change it all for the better and support a move towards better health and wellbeing for all.
Here are a few selected books that put into words the sentimentality attached to food and how we can begin to think differently about the way we eat, and the wonders of nature.
01_No Meat Required by Alicia Kennedy
Alicia Kennedy writes an excellent newsletter [From the desk of Alicia Kennedy] that explores the politics of food. This book is a deeper exploration of alternative choices and a compelling argument that we don’t need to eat meat, while also acknowledging that, “For me, all stories about food are stories about appetite and nostalgia… Talking about what we eat cannot just be rooted in the political; by its very nature, eating is personal.”
02_Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
There’s something about poetry that can light a spark, move you and rekindle inspiration, like nothing else. This is a book of poems that glitters and aches with the beauty of the natural world that we can notice and love if we choose to.
03_Regenesis by George Monbiot
Prepare to be outraged, moved to tears of frustration and feel shivers of hope and possibility. George Monbiot highlights the dire state of the food system in the UK and globally, and proposes solutions through case studies of farmers that are doing things differently – trying to regenerate their land and protect wildlife. Soil is fascinating to me after reading this book: a testament to Monbiot’s excellent writing.
04_Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This book felt miraculous to me. With her language and illuminating way of appreciating the earth, Robin Wall Kimmerer explains that there is another way to think about plants and how to take care of the world we need and love. “Hear! Hear! Hear! The world is more than your thoughtless commute. We, the collateral, are your wealth, your teachers, your security, your family. Your strange hunger for ease should not mean a death sentence for the rest of Creation.”
05_Nourish Scotland’s research report on public diners
This isn’t technically a book, but it is a fascinating read on a simple but impactful idea: state supported restaurants. Bring back communal, affordable eating with food that’s for everyone!
06_How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry
Diana Henry has a way of writing about food and eating that transports you. This is a cookbook, but it’s also travel storytelling that honours memory and the places she’s eaten, showcasing simple ingredients whilst reminding you of the beauty to be found in a meal. Food lets you know a place, even if only for the time it takes you to eat it. The book is organised by seasons, and the recipes are grouped into menus which is great for someone like me, who cooks according to the weather and craves complimentary dishes.
07_The 3000 Mile Garden by Roger Phillips and Leslie Land
This is a book of letters that feels of another time. It made me want to write letters to all my friends, learning how to describe the happenings of my life with actual words and not emojis or stilted text language. It’s a detailed record of observation of the writers’ gardens and the wellbeing of their plants through the trials and tribulations of weather. You’ll learn about seasons, landscape planning, growing food at home and the Latin names for plants. There’s added hilarity with lines like, “Although I adore braised leeks and cook them frequently [usually in butter, with browned shreds of lime zest and the lime juice], they make me fart like a bandit and I can only enjoy them when I expect a full day of solitude in which to toot unabashed.” I have loved reading this before bed and drifting off imagining myself strolling around in their gardens.
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