I’m switching gears a bit in my video series, with the title—Gigi Berardi reads FoodWISE, and asks, “Is this the new normal?”

The New York Times (and gosh, the newspaper seems to go back and forth between “We-are-all-digging-a-big-hole-and jumping in with a year’s supply of cupcakes and potato chips, read: comfort food” AND everyone’s planting Victory vegetable gardens in their house) writes:

reporting that packaged good increased by more than 8.5 billion dollars in a two-week period ending March 21. Well, which is it? Dorito’s or Tomatoes?

 

I don’t know, but it certainly looks like a FoodWISE moment to me—stop, think, then act. I don’t think it is reasonable (or desirable) for everyone to dive head-first into “home farming,” nor do I thing masses of people are doing it.

So, #1, careful what you read (the FoodWISE message) and #2, get your feet wet first, if you are interested at all in home food production (and of course, that’s a FoodWISE message, too)—and that means small steps.

Small steps (gardening):

Plant your (chemical-free, and cat-free) planters with sunflower seeds, eat the sprouts!

Make a window box (out of virtually anything, as long as there’s good drainage) and plane some fast-growing greens.

Small steps (processing): I think the vats of home ferments mentioned in the article might be a little intimidating. Start with sauerkraut! Get a cabbage, shred or slice it, and layer in a glass or ceramic container, with salt—lots of recipes for this.

Small steps (cooking with inexpensive and abundant—for now): Potatoes (boil them, bake them, sauté, fry) and beans (soups, with starchy carbs, even make a puree)—experiment!

But, and this is the point I want to make, I think some combination of all of the above just might be our new normal. We are all in this together, yes, but the main point is—we are all in it! And like it or not, we are becoming cooks and online shopping mavens and food processors.