Welcome to.... Sitting at Jane's Table

Sitting at Jane's Table

By Jane Weston Wilson

This month I begin my third year as a columnist on our blog, Aging in Action - UWS. I can’t believe it has been two years, 44 columns later, all of which I have enjoyed writing. My absolute love affair with food, this will not change at all, but I want to write from a larger perspective. So, in keeping with this philosophy, I invite you to join me as we leave Now You're Cooking! and begin our new adventure: Sitting at Jane's Table.

Food is our international language; it speaks to the very existence of life itself. The subject of food is spiritual, political, social and cultural. It is this wider view of the world where I would invite you to join me, to sit awhile in conversation, to think and talk about our connection to each other, to the earth, the sea, the air and our participation in our future and our children and grandchildren’s future.

M. F. K. Fisher, perhaps the most eloquent food writer of the 20th century, when asked why she only wrote about food as such a gifted writer, she replied, “Because food is about life and death.” Every day we become more fully aware of that statement.

My columns have featured the work of Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, Frances Moore Lappe; gifted journalists who are also activists and teachers. With great passion, style and clarity they continue to exhort us to realize the full impact and importance of doing our part in caring for each other, our future and
ourselves. There is no doubt in my mind that Aging in Action members read about and have gone to documentaries about food, read the books and articles on the mishandling of it and how that effects all of us. We do Greenmarkets at least once a week from June to November and some of us belong to community-supported agriculture.

Most of us already have years of cooking experience, a good stash of  recipes along with favorite cookbooks. What there is an interest in, especially since we are now “Empty Nesters”, are ways to enjoy community. By getting together around food, shopping together, cooking together, eating together and just being together.

What I always enjoy is talking about members joining groups within our community. And to share and encourage readers to eat and shop in the small stores and restaurants within our own neighborhoods, as I will continue to do so as well.

What I’m doing here is simply switching hats from the usual kind of food column mainly involved with cooking and entertaining, ideas and recipes, to a larger canvas.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Sitting at Jane’s Table opens up a wider view, a bigger challenge for each of us to explore together many new ways to learn and to grow. To contribute to the welfare of the world, our community, and our families.

Here’s what I am thinking and planning:

• Interviews with well-known activists and writers, as well as local activists
• Interviews with our own Aging in Action readers

Some subject matters to research and explore:

• Where Does Your Plastic Bag Travel?
• Trading Places
•  Eating The Same Foods We Ate 10,000 Years Ago
• Future Food
• The Hijacking Of Water
• Pay As You Wish Restaurants
• The Lost Art of Shelling Peas
• The Dark Side of Milk
• Becoming A Vegan - Bill Clinton Has

 Now tell me: what would you like to learn more about and discuss when we're Sitting at Jane's Table?

Comments

[Dorothy]

All those topics are appealing. And not only 'how we ate 10,000 years ago', but even 100 years ago or 60 years ago (ie, pre-TV). How my mother and dad cooked is leagues away from how my son and his family do.

Thank you for your column. While not currently living there, I will be again soon, and feel welcomed every time this email arrives.