SUKKOT & THE BLESSING OF FOOD

Last night was the beginning of the week-long festival of Sukkot.  This is a Jewish harvest celebration - a time to mark the changing of the seasons and rejoice in the bounty of the land. 

Traditionally, we build 'sukkah' - temporary huts with a roof of branches, providing shade but allowing the stars to shine through, and decorated beautifully with carpets and harvest produce.  It is the custom to eat meals in the sukkah, and even sleep in it. We welcome friends to share meals. It becomes our temporary home for the week.

This festival, like harvest festivals in so many cultures, brings us closer to the divine beauty of the agricultural life - the growing of the crops, the raising of the animals, followed by harvest and storage.  It is a joy to eat our meals outside, surrounded by the natural world, in awe of the food produced by the earth.  

It is the custom of all the major religions to take a moment before our meals to give thanks.  Even if not religious, it seems right to contemplate the source of the food, and the work that has been put in - by the farmer, the cook, the earth itself - to create a meal.  

I think part of the growing trend for Americans to go to farmers markets or be part of CSAs (community supported agriculture) is a desire to be more connected to that cycle.  Besides having a fun weekend outing, besides having fresh local produce at reasonable prices, we get to see how the seasons change the food that's available.  We can get tomatoes all year long in the supermarket, but only for a few special weeks at the farm.  But what tomatoes they are!  We get to know our local growers, we move from lettuce to chard to beans to tomatoes to kale to winter squash in our meals, we get to perhaps help at a local farm, planting or weeding or harvesting.   We grow in appreciation for the work and miracle of food, and take a moment to give thanks - while we are preparing food, while we are sharing it with friends and family.