For years I have watched our daughters’ friends make very different choices regarding food. Emily, our older daughter, had a friend in middle school who organized a whole group of kids in a protest against eating chicken. They stood on a very busy street corner in Napa, trading off on who got to wear the hilarious chicken costume and they shouted at passing cars and waved signs to let the world know that chickens were being mistreated and we should all stop eating them! This same friend, as you might have guessed, became vegan at the same time. It was our first experience of having to give careful thought to what we would eat for dinner when this particular friend was spending the night. This small but mighty friend of Emily’s has not wavered from her choice for a second. We laughed with her parents at the time and we all decided she was going to be a force to be reckoned with and she was and she still is in the best of ways.
One friend after another announced their food issues and choices. One was vegetarian, one was lactose-free, one was gluten-free, another was vegan, another was gluten-free and on it went as they announced to their parents that wanted particular kinds of food in the house and not other kinds. I have to admit I was always grateful that our daughters had not made those choices! Eventually Emily decided she could no longer eat beef after watching Fast Food Nation, but other than that, they have been relatively easy in the food category. We all love good ribs or a summer evening outside with bbq chicken!
Recently, however, I was given a blood test and discovered that I am gluten sensitive. When the doctor called me to tell me, I heaved a big sigh of relief and said to myself, “Whew, at least you are not gluten-intolerant!” And I proceeded to continue to eat gluten with abandon. The long story shortened is that due to health concerns, I have now been gluten-free for a week. Well, mostly gluten-free because I think I accidentally ingested some in the pizza I ate without the crust…What has happened to me in the past couple of weeks in the run up to actually giving up gluten and on into the first week, is that I have become aware of food in a way that I have not ever been in my life. For two months I have been planning on preaching a sermon about food justice and I preached it last Sunday (no, it was not intentional on my part to give up gluten the same week I preached on food justice – pure coincidence!). I cannot believe how ignorant I have been on the issue of food. Would that I had become so interested before I was having digestive issues, but I think that’s what it took to get me to open my eyes. Now I am in that virgin place of being afraid to eat anything and losing weight and feeling slightly overwhelmed. Isn’t it amazing how quickly that happens when we come to new awarenesses?
My appreciation for Emily’s friend who organized the protest against eating chicken so many years ago has expanded and deepened. She knew so much more than I did and then cared enough to take a stand in public. As I begin to educate myself and open myself to new possibilities and new habits, I hope to be reminded constantly of her 13 year old passion and purpose. I have to admit it was much easier eating with my head in the sand!