Holding Fruit Means Holding Hands

The Living Connected focus for November 2021 is food. It starts with a first-of-the-month blog post that reflects on the fruit we eat. Then, check my Facebook page every Tuesday for a food-related Practice of the Week.

Notice

Go to your kitchen and pick up a piece of fruit. Remember, nuts are fruit, too! Notice the fruit’s texture, color, and scent. Taste it, if you can eat it raw, or imagine its taste baked or cooked into something delicious. Does the fruit remind you of special people or times in your life? Give thanks for the gift of fruit.

Connect

Each bite of fruit includes energy from sunshine, water from precipitation, and nutrients from soil. Consolidation of fruit production into fewer growers means the water and land that nourishes your fruit, and that is impacted by growing it, may be far from you. Every bite of fruit also connects you to people who grew, stored, and transported it. Many fruits are picked by hand, so in a way, holding fruit means holding hands with someone. In the US, roughly half these hands belong to immigrants without legal status.

Practice

In general, fruit grown in its natural season and climate and eaten in the same region has the lowest environmental impact. This week buy a local, in-season fruit. Enjoy its freshness and flavor. Say a prayer for the people and places who made the fruit possible. How might you change the way you buy fruit to better care for them?

I invite you to try one of the following practices this month.

• Learn about the heat and chemical exposure risks for the people who grow, harvest, and pack fruit.

• Research your favorite fruit online and learn where it’s grown and how it’s harvested, packed, stored, and shipped. Reflect on whether it all aligns with your values. Do you need to make any changes in how you buy the fruit?

• Buy fruit based on what’s in-season for your location.

• Buy fruit that is certified as organic, Rainforest Alliance, or Fairtrade.

• Read Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba.

• Commit to eat all fruit you buy to minimize food waste, even if it means cutting off parts that are no longer edible.

• Compost fruit waste instead of throwing it into the trash.

#food