A sacred food system

What would a food system based on the Sacred Principle look like?

It may take many names, but the common approach would be that this food system would be built on values.

Four values ground this food system: relationship, reciprocity, respect, and reverence.

In relationship, we would understand that we are interconnected and interdependent with the food we eat. We would be in deep relationship with the land. We would honor our relationship with water - rain, streams, catchment systems. We would be in right relations with our neighbors, practicing trade as mutual aid, community, circular economy, to fulfill needs and flourish together. The principle of relationship would shift us from the center of control and domination to one of fluidity and interconnection in a web of relations.

The type of relationship is one rooted in reciprocity. A mutual give and take, offering and accepting. The land is generous, and provides for us abundantly. And we must care for the land. Stewardship would be a central practice. This is in contrast to extractivism, to feeling entitled that the earth serves us only, or a mentality of scarcity. This food system them would take into account the full circle of growth, cultivation, harvest and decomposition, to be mindful of waste, energy, and resource use. An understanding of karma, that we get what we give. In the Andean cosmovision, ayni, posited on the conception of a living relationship of mutuality and interconnection with community and creation.

Quechua farmers conduct a ceremony to thank Pachamama, or Mother Earth, for the potato harvest. Potato Park, Cusco, Peru 2014. Photo from Yes! magazine.

This puts us in a position of respect. To interact with, not dominate, natural cycles. To have respect for nature´s intelligence. To respect the farmers, ranchers, pickers, drivers, butchers, food preparers, that use their hands and skills to bring our food to us. To trust the wisdom engrained in seeds, soil and sun. To have respect for the ultimate power of nature, humbly kneeling down in the dirt, seeing ourselves as one manifestation of creation, as sister and brother to corn, bean, and squash.

And from this place on our knees, to practice reverence. Whispering prayers of gratitude. Carrying out ancestral rituals of planting and harvesting. Eating as ceremony. Recognizing the awe-inspiring process of sprouting and blossoming. Leaving space for the sacred.

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