Sitting down at a table to a home-cooked, local meal gives me the same sensation as sitting down at my desk to write a new poem: a pause and then a surge of gratitude, followed by the slow digestion of truth, honesty, and love. As our food system evolves, we need to look at food as the poetry of our lives. A new food language, a poetics of food, is needed to fully understand the shifts in value and daily practices that are inherent to developing an enduring and inclusive food system. As more people think daily about what they eat, where it comes from and why, the closer we will be to our food supply and the people and land that grew it. The poetics of food, rooted in both art and science, is an area of inquiry that should be considered in future food studies as well as novel forums and modes of expression for capturing the farmer's perspective.
University of California Press