More cooking than growing

Cooking and sharing food is the way we show love. The culture of sharing food is one of the most ancient acts that human communities have used to share their identity and values.

From the great celebrations of Eid and Christmas to the Soul Food of the deep American south, cooking and sharing food is the lost art of remembering who we are as a people.

There is something deeply satisfying about harvesting food, bringing it into the kitchen and then cooking it. We seem to have a deeper connection with food if we have grown it, rather than if we have just pulled it from a supermarket plastic wrapper. Having cosseted it and coaxed the plant until the day it gave back to us what we had long been waiting for, the fruits of our labours and the miracle of nature!

But once you begin the cycle of growing and cooking your own, then the meaning of food takes on a whole new slant and before you know it you’re growing organically and buying organically as it no longer feels right to eat food enhanced by chemicals. Once you cook with home grown you just know they are good for you, they taste different, the flavours are stronger and the onions really do make you cry (tears of joy of course). Fresh herbs are packed with flavour and those dried up looking bits of dust in jars that you used to use suddenly don’t seem as palatable anymore. Welcome to the world of Incredible Edible, it’s like going on a culinary journey of rediscovery.

Cooking is also something that most of us will turn our hands to a) out of basic necessity and b) to create a dish to share and enjoy with others. Why? Because we naturally bond over eating a meal together. So it is only natural that community groups growing food want to experience the sharing of food and drink to increase and embed the social bond.