Mateo and me with our student, Olympia, and her dad, Marco, who sells us our produce from the greenhouse
Sam checking kids into the comedor for lunch
This is an article I recently submitted to the JVC magazine. I´m not sure if they´ll have room to put it in the next edition, but I thought I´d share it with all of you!
Food is an essential part of our daily lives. Much of our time is spent harvesting,
preparing, eating, disposing of, and talking about food. Every culture has it´s
specialties that they can be proud of and I feel so lucky to be enjoying the rich cuisine
of Perú every day.
At the same time (as I´m sure other international JVs can attest to) our community
spends a lot of time discussing the food we miss from home. It doesn´t help that
Mateo (fellow community-mate and teacher of English) and I have been teaching our
students about “gringo” food for the past few weeks. After seeing our 70 minute long
presentation about the tasty food we eat in the states, I always leave with a longing
hunger for the food comforts of home.
But what is important about the food we eat daily? How do we proceed to eat? What
are we saying in the Lord´s Prayer when we ask God to “give us this day our daily
bread”? In our food presentation to the students, we talk about American´s unhealthy
habits in regards to fast food and soda that lead to obesity and health problems. Much
of my eating time at home was spent scarfing down food in order to move on to my
next activity; eating time was less and less spent with friends and family around the
table.
And where does our food come from? In the states we have strong feelings about
organic food, vegetarianism, how chicken´s are humanely kept and killed, etcetera.
Here in Andahuaylillas my view of the role of food – how I eat, where food comes
from, and what is necessary - has been changed by my wasi masis (Quechua for
neighbors).
Sharing meals together is an important part of life as a JV in Perú. Our community eats
together regularly. Many of our interactions and spaces for sharing with our neighbors
takes place around a table. In Perú the biggest meal of the day is lunch which usually
includes soup and main course. People take their time savoring the cuisine and
enjoying each other. Home cooked meals are something to be proud of and shared.
We also have the joy of sharing every weekday lunch with around 350 kids from
Andahuaylillas. Sam (community-mate) runs the parish comedor for kids whose
families cannot afford to feed their children abundant lunches. Those families pay
only 5 soles (about $1.80) a month for their kids to eat. They can also pay in produce
or in labor preparing the food. The comedor is supplemented by entrance fees to our
church here in Andahuaylillas; Iglesia de San Pedro – also known as the Sistine Chapel
of the Americas.
We have the great fortune here that our community dinners are supplemented
by leftovers from the comedor. We buy the rest of our food at the market in a
neighboring town or from the greenhouse on the campus of our school. It´s amazing!
During or after school, we can walk back to the greenhouse operated by the parent
(Marco) of two of our students and literally pull our dinner out of the ground. It´s
fresh and delicious without any chemicals…and it`s great to support our wasi masi.
Additionally, we have been supplying scraps and leftover food to another student`s
family for their pig. They`re planning to slaughter the pig in the next few weeks (which
is huge now) and we`ve been invited to partake. It feels right share in the cycle of
raising, feeding, and eventually using the animals for sustenance.
In Perú food is an important and dominant part of everyone`s lives. We all participate
from the process of growing to the time of sharing meals together. Nothing comes in
plastic. Hardly anything is wasted. God has blessed us with our needed daily bread
without the unnecessary excess we`re so used to in the states.
So the next time you drop by a super market I challenge you to think about where your
food comes from and what you are putting in your body. And when you return home,
take the time to share in the preparation and consumption of that precious gift for
which we so often forget to give thanks for.
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