Food Rebels Wanted

I am a rebel. Granted, for much of my life, I was more like a rebel without a cause, literally. I have always felt the pull to buck authority figures, the latest trends and even occasionally common sense, just to test the boundaries. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that as young as three years old, my response to my concerned godfather’s attempts to talk me down off a too high snow pile was a sputtered “Go f+$5 yourself.” (Where exactly I learned that phrase was a mystery to my church going parents).

Being a rebel means not fitting in, and I always stood out from the crowd. Playing detective while wearing my father’s over sized suit coat and pointing a banana gun at people can have that affect. So to can getting a nose ring and shaving my head (what can I say, Sigourney Weaver looked bad ass in Aliens). I rebelled when I didn’t go to college right away (“You’ll NEVER finish if you don’t go straight from high school”). And though I tried my hand at the typical office jobs, the emptyness of pushing papers caused me to do a pretty crappy job if I’m being honest.

In that way, I suppose the uncertainty of being an entrepreneur suits me well. Though the hours are much longer, the infinite variety and possibility (and my husband’s constant nagging – “You can do better” – “I believe in you” – blah blah) inspire me to push harder. Plus, I know that we directly benefit from the investment of time and energy and not some corporate muckity-muck high up in the clouds.

So, while I’ve been a rebel without a cause, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking for one. That rebellious spirit requires a dash of intuition, and the truth is, we have come up against some very formidable forces that have done a very good job separating us from our human intuitions. Here is a riddle as an example: What one animal on Earth must ponder and decide what kind of diet they will consume? Of course to ask the question is to answer it: humans are the only animals on the planet that don’t know what to eat! Every other creature on this planet instinctively knows what to eat, when to eat it, how much to eat and so on. We are so confused by all of the misinformation and competing interests that we cannot even decide on this most basic thought about life.

I’ve spent a good portion of my life caught up in the matrix of advertising and processed foods. I am a product of my generation and grew up on pasteurized milk, brightly colored breakfast cereals, and sodium-laden ramen noodles. I was sold the same bill of goods as everyone else in this Processed Foods Devolution – that all I needed was nutrient pellets to survive, not whole living foods.

Accepted food commandments made no sense to me. Cut off the fat off my steak and throw it away? Margarine is superior to butter? Come on now, don’t these scientists have taste buds?

It just seemed wrong to me that the most delicious foods were also deemed by science to be the unhealthiest and of course, right behind them came the “science perfected version” of that food. As the Church Lady would say, “How Convenient!” Heck, even chocolate got a bad rap because Hershey’s loads their bars with sugar. My intuition, as atrophied as it had become, told me that there was something wrong with this assessment.

Another hunch that I’ve harbored since my youngest summer days spent at my Grandparent’s farm in Minnesota is that people love to farm. My grandpa was long since jaded by the mechanisation and low crop prices, but grandma’s garden was a bounty and the basement was stocked with applesauce, canned tomatoes and other homemade treasures.

We are humans and are built to live on the land. There is a sense of connection and belonging when you work the land. How do I know this? Not from personal experience (oy, I can barely get the housework done), but I know that it is true – my soul knows.

It boggles the mind to realize that so many of us are incapable or distressed by making such a basic decision as what to eat next. Moreover, this decision is made 3 times a day plus snacks and 8 glasses of water to “stay healthy.” Strange, huh? Or as Joel Salatin would say, “Folk’s, This Ain’t Normal.”

SIDE NOTE: I just picked up Joel’s latest book and it is speaking to the farm girl in me. It just makes so much sense! Now, I’ve not finished it but if you are curious, I highly recommend it.

What is normal is real food. Real food is food made with love. Real food tastes delicious beyond compare. Real food feeds not only the belly but the soul. My discovery of real food started when Kombucha found me. In a moment of pure synchronicity, I was introduced to my first hit of nutrition in ages in the form of fermented tea. It stuck and for a reason unknown I felt called to make it for myself and others.

When my body started getting nutrition on a cellular level from drinking Kombucha, things began to change. My mind rebelled against real food as a means of avoiding doing the dishes or prep work. My soul rebelled against real food because it would mean that all of this information I believed was false. But my intuition kept pulling me along. Just keep drinking the booch. Just keep making that crazy tea.

Then, after drinking KT for years, I finally came across the Weston A Price Foundation. I read Nourishing Traditions practically in one sitting I was so thirsty for knowledge. Moreover, the information and science presented in the book resonated with and confirmed my intuition.

All of this is to say that we are cramming our brains with real food information all weekend at Mythbusters, the Weston A Price Foundation Conference in Dallas. My intuition is telling me that I need to arm my intellect with the right information in order to bring the message of rebellion against processed food to my own being and from there to the world. Yes, I am the Kombucha Mamma, I LOVE Kombucha but I know it is only one Hammer in the tool box of real food. So I’m using Kombucha as a lens – as a specific topic through which to highlight these concerns I have about food sourcing, institutionalized healthcare and socio-economic justice.

As a rebel, I am taking my diet back to nature. I hope you will share this journey with me. I am not a special person, what I aim to do can be done by anyone. I just happen to be rebellious enough and passionate enough to bring this message to anyone who’d like to come along. As we like to say here at KKamp, “The Revolution is at the dinner table. Take your seat.”