June Monthly Meetup: Why we forage

This month's theme: Why we forage.

Have you ever stopped to think about naturalized we have become to buying all our food? Take a second to consider it. Except for those who live in major urban areas, we are literally surrounded by food. Yet instead of going out to find it, more often than not people (in general) are conditioned to visit the giant grocery store chain to trade their hard-earned money for packaged, pesticide-laden, barely edible material that is so genetically modified and stripped of nutrients that it's hard to even call it "food." It's a strange situation.

It's easy to forget that even though global food systems seem completely normal, 99.9% of human existence consisted of small bands of gatherers and hunters who were so intimately connected to their land they were able to live completely from their immediate surroundings. By many accounts, these pre-agriculture humans lived about as long as we do, were generally happier and healthier, and had more leisure time.

So why do we forage? Are we trying to connect back to our pre-civilization ancestors? Is there some kind of primal foraging instinct that outweighs the convenience of buying food?

The good folks at Smith Market will be hosting us this month. If you're going to buy groceries, buy them there :) Grab a coffee/tea/kombucha and join us either outside if the weather is nice or in the seating area in the back. The Oneida Public Market will be happening across the street at the train station, so make sure to stop there as well.