LJ Idol Week 6: Food Memory
Consider the raisin.
A pile of raisins
How did that raisin get to you? How did it come from a grapevine to a box in your kitchen? What was its journey like?
Around the end of August, the grapes are ripe and ready for picking. Raisin grapes have to be picked by hand, so each bunch of grapes is harvested by a person. That person puts the bunches on paper trays for drying. The grapes lie on the trays for about a month becoming raisins. The sun shines on them, warming them so the moisture can escape. The grapes grow smaller, more wrinkled, as the water evaporates in the air. The sugars concentrate, changing the flavor from the juicy grape to the sweet, sticky raisin. Then the trays are retrieved and taken to the raisin factory for processing.
At the factory, the raisins are put into a machine. They are shaken through meshes, poured on conveyor belts that take them around and around, poured through funnels, graded by computers according to size and weight, and eventually poured into plastic bags which are then placed in cardboard boxes. The boxes are loaded onto a truck for shipping.
The raisins then travel from the factory to a distribution center. From that center they are sent to another. Eventually they are sent to the grocery store. Stockers unload the truck and place the pallets in the stockroom floor. They cut the plastic wrap off the pallets and remove the raisin boxes. Some are put on the stockroom shelves and others go on the stocker's cart to be wheeled out into the store. The stocker takes the cart to the raisin aisle and places the boxes on the shelf.
You come into the store. You wheel your shopping cart into the raisin aisle. You stop in front of the display and select a box. You place the box in your cart and continue shopping. You put the box of raisins onto the conveyor belt at the checkout line. The cashier takes the box, waves it over the UPC reader, and puts the box in a bag. (Alternately, you take the box to the self-checkout and do all this yourself.) You take the bag home, remove the items, and put the box of raisins in your kitchen cupboard.
Later, you want a raisin. You take the box, break the seal holding the cardboard flaps together, cut open the bag, and take out a handful. Take one raisin. Look at it. That raisin took quite a journey to come to you. You are not the first person to touch this raisin. Other lives have touched this small, wrinkled fruit. It's come quite a way to see you.
You eat the raisin. It's sweet and delicious.
*******
Non-obligatory footnotes
This is based on consciousness exercise one of my bosses at work took at a retreat. He said it's meant to make you more mindful of your food and more appreciative of all the work that's gone into creating it. Most of us are separated from the processing of our food and we don't really think about it. When you do, it's staggering, all the work that goes into making one little thing, even a barely-processed food like raisins.
Information about raisin processing may be found here.
ryl is not responsible for any raisin, currant, or sultana cravings you may be experiencing.
A pile of raisins
How did that raisin get to you? How did it come from a grapevine to a box in your kitchen? What was its journey like?
Around the end of August, the grapes are ripe and ready for picking. Raisin grapes have to be picked by hand, so each bunch of grapes is harvested by a person. That person puts the bunches on paper trays for drying. The grapes lie on the trays for about a month becoming raisins. The sun shines on them, warming them so the moisture can escape. The grapes grow smaller, more wrinkled, as the water evaporates in the air. The sugars concentrate, changing the flavor from the juicy grape to the sweet, sticky raisin. Then the trays are retrieved and taken to the raisin factory for processing.
At the factory, the raisins are put into a machine. They are shaken through meshes, poured on conveyor belts that take them around and around, poured through funnels, graded by computers according to size and weight, and eventually poured into plastic bags which are then placed in cardboard boxes. The boxes are loaded onto a truck for shipping.
The raisins then travel from the factory to a distribution center. From that center they are sent to another. Eventually they are sent to the grocery store. Stockers unload the truck and place the pallets in the stockroom floor. They cut the plastic wrap off the pallets and remove the raisin boxes. Some are put on the stockroom shelves and others go on the stocker's cart to be wheeled out into the store. The stocker takes the cart to the raisin aisle and places the boxes on the shelf.
You come into the store. You wheel your shopping cart into the raisin aisle. You stop in front of the display and select a box. You place the box in your cart and continue shopping. You put the box of raisins onto the conveyor belt at the checkout line. The cashier takes the box, waves it over the UPC reader, and puts the box in a bag. (Alternately, you take the box to the self-checkout and do all this yourself.) You take the bag home, remove the items, and put the box of raisins in your kitchen cupboard.
Later, you want a raisin. You take the box, break the seal holding the cardboard flaps together, cut open the bag, and take out a handful. Take one raisin. Look at it. That raisin took quite a journey to come to you. You are not the first person to touch this raisin. Other lives have touched this small, wrinkled fruit. It's come quite a way to see you.
You eat the raisin. It's sweet and delicious.
*******
Non-obligatory footnotes
This is based on consciousness exercise one of my bosses at work took at a retreat. He said it's meant to make you more mindful of your food and more appreciative of all the work that's gone into creating it. Most of us are separated from the processing of our food and we don't really think about it. When you do, it's staggering, all the work that goes into making one little thing, even a barely-processed food like raisins.
Information about raisin processing may be found here.
ryl is not responsible for any raisin, currant, or sultana cravings you may be experiencing.