"Simbi," Walker Walls-Tarver, acrylic and Twizzlers
Dear Reader,
It’s the time of year when we bid peaches adieu, start noticing squash as decorations and zip our jackets up to our chins as we briskly shuffle to lunch after class. And what better to do on a chilly night of oranges and maroons than to curl up with a snack and the Food Issue? To get the full effect of the following pages, we recommend you find guidance in this homemade recipe:
Ingredients:
1 Food Issue
10 minutes or more
1 item to sit on, preferably a chair with a thin cushion—but you can creative with this!
A few people with whom to discuss the articles
A handful of curiosity to enhance the flavor
Directions:
1. Prepare to agree and disagree. Food is more than a substance we draw energy from. It takes on cultural significance in ideas of health, ethics and accessibility. Even within our own community, we see things differently. Take a bowl of pasta with cheese: One person sees organic parmesan atop a bowl of freshly made gnocchi, while another sees cruelty-fueled dairy plopped on an oversized portion of carbs.
2. Read whichever article you’re craving in the moment. Treat yourself to Catherine Sinow’s traumatic experience with a pot brownie (p. 8), then Justine Epstein’s article on the spiritual benefits of fasting (p. 11).
3. Expand your palette by opening up the issue to a random page and starting from there. Check out Nicole Wilkinson’s piece on fat shaming at Colorado College and beyond (p. 26); let that sit for a bit, and then move on to Jackson Foster’s journey to vegan frutarianism and activism (p. 31).
4. Food can be the enemy and the hero. An individual and collective experience. Addis Goldman demonstrates how food is an integral part of our individual being (p. 6), while Angelica Florio discusses food as a place where collective values find continual reinforcement (p. 11). Our lives revolve around food, whether we’re aware of it or not, and the articles ahead take on our biological dependence from all angles.
So, what’re you waiting for? Indulge.
–Tess Gattuso and the “Cipher” Editors
