The Power of Place - A Gastronomic Journey

I am a self-professed word geek. Etymology fascinates me, and I love diving into deeper and lesser known annotative and qualitative meanings. So – let’s talk about “place.” Place can be a noun or a verb. As a noun it can simply be a point in space, a specific location – designated or assigned, a person’s home, a vacant or available position, a rank or status, a right or privilege, or a proper position. As a verb, it can mean being put in a particular position, the assigning of an attitude or emotion (to place trust in someone), an indication of advantage, a classification within a hierarchy (placed 3rd), or an acknowledgement of recognition (to place someone – remember where/how you know them). Originally from the Greek plateia hodos (broad way) and/or the Latin platea (open space), it made its way to modern English by way of Old French and Middle English.

Now that I have completely bored all of you…Lol. I think the concept of place is incredibly important, so I am crafting a few blogs to share the reasoning behind my belief - starting with food!

One of the reasons I enjoy wine so much is that it is essentially a time & place capsule in a bottle. Last night I opened a 2013 Bodegas El Nido from Jumilla, Spain. I was drinking grapes (in this case Cabernet Sauvignon and Monastrell) grown in a very specific place (in this case a small region on the Mediterranean coast of southeastern Spain). The wine reflects the desires and skills of the winemaker. In this case Chris Ringland chose a 70%/30% blend, chose old vine Monastrell grapes, and made the decision to age the wine two years in barrel. Even if Ringland made the exact same decisions in 2014, the wine would still be different, due to the impact of each individual year's climate - rainfall, temperature, humidity. Drinking wine allows you to travel in time and space in an amazing way.

Farm-to-table food allows for a similar journey. Living in Central Wisconsin we are surrounded by small family farms growing a huge array of herbs, fruits and vegetables and raising livestock who, as they say, live incredible lives with one bad day. I can drive 15-30 minutes and literally see the fields, gardens, and barns where the magic happens. Over the years we have chosen to utilize CSAs (crop share allotments from local farms), and direct animal ordering (a half pig or quarter cow raised and butchered locally) for the majority of our food, supplementing with small local grocers, and only heading to larger chains when necessary. The relationships we have developed with our farmers have deepened our ties within our community, made us more aware of issues from climate change to rural high speed internet, and improved our overall health.

When we deliberately consider the concept of place with our eating and drinking choices, we connect ourselves to the story of the ingredients, the farmers and artisan makers, and the environment of our world from micro to mundo.

It's important to remember that there is a great deal of privilege wrapped up in the concept of place - food deserts exist throughout our country and world, it is a truth bordering on tragedy that it is cheaper to feed a family of four with fast and processed food rather than it is to purchase fresh, whole foods. But that's another blog...