July 21, 2010
Every month I receive a DVD in the mail from Spiritual Cinema Circle. There are four films on the DVD. Three short and one feature film. This month the topic is"Challenging Tradition."
One of the short films, (10 minutes) is called Gefilte Fish. A young Israeili woman is getting married. There is a list of traditions for her to do before the wedding. One of the traditions is to prepare gefilte fish following a traditional recipe handed down through many generations. There is a photo album filled with each bride in the family, holding the platter of gefilte fish. She is told that when a woman cooks a meal for a man wholeheartedly it stays in his stomach forever and if she does not respect this tradition, her marriage will be cursed.
Step 1 whack the fish over the head twice with a rolling pin to kill it.(And her fiance is a vegetarian and doesn't even eat fish!)
Below is a short film trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgmsRDEkpD0&feature=player_embedded
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The film and a recent blog brought up the topics of tradition and food. Before moving to California, I was an occasional vegetarian. When I had an autoimmune condition in 1995, I drank green drinks and cut out animal products, as part of my recovery. I liked vegetarian foods but I had excuses as to why I could never give up meat.
*I grew up eating meat at home and in the school cafeteria.
*It was hard to find vegetarian choices when I traveled.
*What would I cook to meet nutritional requirements for my body?
*I need meat for protein and energy.
* I didn't want to offend anyone when visiting their home.
Now in California there are so many new choices. When I crave a burger and fries, I go to Paty's or Bob's Big Boy, (the original!), and order a vegetarian burger. A whole wheat bun, soy patty, fresh veggies and sliced avocado. It is delicious. When I crave a burrito, I can order it with tofu, black beans and a whole wheat tortilla. And there are numerous vegetarian, vegan and raw food restaurants.
Shelly Rachanow, author of If Women Ran the World, Sh*t Would Get Done has a wonderful blog called Celebrating the Wonderful Things Women Do. She recently interviewed Melanie Joy, author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows. Here is a piece of the interview that stirred me to think about the tradition of eating animals:
"Carnism is the reason humane people can participate in inhumane practices without realizing what they’re doing. The whole system is set up to keep us from thinking for ourselves; when it comes to eating animals, most of us don’t even realize we’re making a choice, following the dictates of a deeply ingrained belief system. We’ve been taught that it’s only vegetarians who bring their beliefs to the dinner table. But when eating animals isn’t a necessity (as is the case in the majority of the world today), it is a choice—and choices always stem from beliefs."
The link to the full interview and Shelly's blog is below:
Celebrating the Wonderful Things Women Do
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Another opportunity that is challenging the tradition of my food choices comes from my daughter, Liz, age 25. Liz is a vegan. Her minor in college is animal rights. She has been researching the ways we treat the animals we eat. With the influence of Liz, and other vegans, like Jason Mraz, the singer, I am opening my mind. One meal at a time.
The reflection questions at the end of the Spiritual Cinema film are:
Which traditions in my life limit me? Which traditions set me free?
My call to inspiration is to become awake and aware of the food choices I am making each day. Food is another opportunity for me to make conscious choices. I leave you to answer the questions for yourself.
Now on to the holidays. I have four months to plan the new Thanksgiving menu.
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