Are You as Disconnected from Your Food as My Neighbors?

You won’t believe these two stories I’m about to tell you.

STORY#1: A Figgy Tale

There’s a fig tree that’s on both my property and my neighbors. There’s no fence-line so it’s really both of ours. And one day, while I was picking some fresh figs I see my neighbor just got home from work.

This neighbor is super quiet normally and as she’s walking towards me, I was wondering if she was annoyed that I’m “stealing” her figs. And I didn’t want to be a grinch so I show her my bowl and say, “Hey these are ready, do you want some?

She replies, “What are they?”

I was flabbergasted.

I tell her they are figs! And she said, “What’s that?” Internally I was screaming how a 30-something year old adult doesn’t know what a fig is. And worse, in the end she didn’t even want to try one.

STORY #2: Mulberries at Dawn, Mulberries Gone

There’s a giant, 25 year old mulberry tree a couple houses down in front of my neighbors yard. This is what such a tree looks like:

Mulberries are like blackberries, but even better because they’re less sour and quite rare in the USA:

And when they are ripe, they fall off the tree easily, even from a strong breeze or shake.

One morning I was walking my dog at 6am and noticed the sidewalk in front of this house was stained all over the ground. I look up and realize there’s hundreds upon hundreds of mulberries ready for picking!

So after I walked my dog, I grabbed a giant mixing bowl from home and started picking off as many fruits as I could. I got a lot but there were still hundreds more. Nevertheless, I was elated!

Later that day, I hear chainsaws going off for an hour. Eventually I walk out to see what’s happening and see a professional tree-cutting-service trimming the mulberry tree!!!

I was so sad and confused as to how or why someone could do such a thing when that poor tree worked all year to produce these rare and delicious fruits!

So the next day I see the neighbor that owned the tree… and I was like, “You guys chopped this tree down huh?”

He goes, “Yea thank god… it was making a MESS!”

What the actual fuck! ‍♂️ People pay $6-8 for a small bowl of berries at the store. And these were grown, naturally organic with no pesticides and they chopped it down because it was making a mess!?

I wish I was making these stories up.

But I share them because it shows how disconnected some people are from nature. I grew up as an Armenian, where it was always the norm to have fruit trees in your yard so all these incidences were hard to believe.

The irony is there’s an overabundance of food and Americans struggle with over-eating so much but they don’t even recognize simple fruits? Do they know where food comes from… or what even is food?

Before I segway, here’s a relevant meme:

If I told you to buy only:

• Organic fruits and vegetables.
• Pasture raised chickens and eggs.
• Grass fed and grass-finished beef.

Most people would say that’s too expensive. Or that they can’t afford it. I know I did for a long time.

I understand that might mean you could buy less food to feed your family but have you tried to make the switch to see if it’s actually doable?

In a country where 70% are overweight and obese. Would your family actually start going hungry if you bought only the highest quality food items?

Or would you still have enough and maybe, quite possibly actually respect the food you bought far more because you value it more? Maybe it would even be not only healthier, but a more pleasurable of an experience.

Things to think about, my friends. Some literal food for thought.

And I admire that you made it all the way. Feel free to contact me with your thoughts on these absurd stories if you wish! And if you’re interested in more of my content on food and nutrition, check out my Nutrition Index on my website!

These stories and more were recently discussed in “Antranik’s Inner Circle.”

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