Food: Giving Thanks....to Whom?

Growing up as an Irish catholic the grace that was said at our table was always “Bless us oh Lord for these our gifts which we are about to receive, from thy bounty through Christ our Lord Amen”. Then I had kids and what once worked, no longer felt right to one of my boys, so it got me thinking. If I no longer said these words, which came out on auto pilot without thinking about them, what would I say as a mom of two thoughtful boys? What did I want to teach them to appreciate about food?

1. I want them to appreciate the value of food, the fact that many do not have the luxury of choosing what is for dinner or, in fact, if they eat any dinner at all. I grew up in the era of “there are starving people in X, finish your dinner”. While that came out of favor, I still want my boys to know that they are blessed and privileged when it comes to food. I also want them to know that not everyone is able to access enough nourishing food (or any at all), so that they do something about this inequity whenever and wherever they can in their lives. They have seen me feed many strangers on the street and in my home...I want them to do the same. Thank you for this food.

2. I want them to be so very thankful to every single person that was involved in providing the food that sits on our plates every night. Grace changed from ‘thank you oh Lord’ to “thank you farmers, truck drivers, grocery store check-out person...” Some nights this list gets super long. If you really stop to think about each and every step in the process of ‘farm to plate’ there are dozens and dozens of individuals whose hard work makes it possible for us to eat. When they were younger we went through this process in depth so that they understood the enormity of such a simple act – eating dinner. Now that they are older we say thank you to everyone who helped get this food to me.

3. I want them to have awareness that they do not live in isolation but in a community, within a county, within a state, country, world, and on a planet that benefits or suffers from our food decisions. As such it is everyone’s duty to help others when they need it and to make planet-healthy choices when we can. ?May all eat this way.

To get to a place and time where everyone is nourished will take each and every one of us doing our part. It will take awareness, and dare I say it will take moments of grace where we think about the big picture so that we are not only very grateful for what we have, but we are ignited to help others as well. Here is our grace today with teenagers:

?Thank you for this food. Thank you to everyone who helped get it to us, and may all eat this well.

?Short and sweet. From my family to yours. May you eat well and help others to do the same.