We had a great day on Wednesday with three classes back to back, the first time we’ve made food together in person since the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020 with these now-much-taller fourth and fifth graders. In the classroom, we each shared a strength that we have as we will need all the assets in our community if we are to end the climate crisis. I read an excerpt from an essay the climate justice activist Xiye Bastida wrote that’s included in the anthology All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis about the need for intergenerational connection and the importance of lobbying at the local level for change.
In the kitchen, students cut and juiced lemons using a variety of tools, muddled blackberry and homegrown yerba buena, measured agave, prepared garnishes, and then set the table for our happy hour of sorts, bar snacks included! It’s true that we are a vegetarian program, but we wanted to pair something savory with the lemonade. Since we will be spending weeks discussing the impact of eating meat and what sustainable protein will look like in the future, chile-lime crickets seemed like an appropriate one-time exception to make. Many students tried them, and some thought they were delicious! Though crickets as food is a new concept for most of us, humans have been eating insects for thousands of years. Many of the food practices we must adopt to survive will similarly hearken back to our ancestors and move us out of our comfort zone.
