At CEED, I lead our leadership development work, which is grounded in popular education methods. My role involves developing (researching, writing, and creative thinking) our popular education curricula and expanding our community education trainings and events.
The creation and development of CEED’s Nature’s Cookbook: Acknowledging the Gifts of Nature Through Cooking, Gardening, & Healing has been a collaborative labor of love. Community conversations with food and land justice advocates and Latine gardeners on the East Side of St. Paul, Minnesota, inspired the need for this book.
CEED had been conducting popular education workshops with El Jardin de Armonia (“The Garden of Harmony”), a gardening cohort affiliated with Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES), where repeated conversations around cultural meals, recipes, and remedies for various plant-based medicines were shared with excitement and a deep grounding in ancestral and traditional values and practices. There was a particular story on the power of a tortilla that struck me: milling or pounding masa (corn) with the metate (a cooking stone) and our hands increased nutritional value because it introduced minerals into the corn, and ultimately, the tortilla. This story prompted others to excitedly share more: adding lime – AKA calcium hydroxide, to masa makes the amino acids (niacin) in the corn available for our bodies to absorb. Hearing stories and exchanges like these reminded me so much of our deep connection to the land and the abundant gifts of nature the earth continuously provides us.
CEED’s curriculum on energy, pollution, and climate clearly articulates and names the systematic connection we have to the earth (i.e. energy production and how energy reaches our home), but we were missing naming the innate and intricately human connection we have with the earth. I wanted to build our curriculum on our natural world to deepen our understanding of our relationship with the land. Hence, the idea for our Nature’s Gifts curriculum was born, and soon after, the plan to capture the histories of cultural food and plant knowledge via our Nature’s Cookbook. This book is a tangible, action-oriented learning resource to uncover our connection to the earth and practice ongoing reciprocal care (through cooking, gardening, and healing!).
Many months later, the contents of the book were finalized! Nature’s Cookbook (draft #1) debuted on Earth Day to community members last year. CEED hosted Nature’s Gifts – An Earth Day Event with CLUES, where we prepared a snack (Yuca with Chimichurri) and dessert (Morocho) directly from the cookbook before we spent some time in nature for a foraging lesson, identifying healing and/or edible plants and herbs. We found mullein, dandelion, and catnip! Everyone went home with a copy of the cookbook and some seeds, and three lucky raffle winners were gifted a hand shovel, gardening gloves, or an established rosemary plant.
While draft #1 of Nature’s Cookbook contained the language and content needed to learn and engage with the book, the pages lacked visual imagery and connectedness. The illustrated version of the book was underway that very summer. I am so excited to introduce Cynthia Rico Mendoza, Eva Nyrie Garrett, and Lynda Grafito, who all played an important role in bringing this book to life! Please stay tuned for our next blog on Nature’s Cookbook to learn more about the Cookbook Team.
Excerpt from Nature’s Cookbook:
“Today, the earth is treated as an object and commodity – society takes advantage of the gifts we are given from nature. Nature’s Cookbook was created with the intention of learning the abundant gifts the earth provides us with and healing our collective relationship with the land. We hope that in cooking the delicious meals within these pages, and uncovering the healing powers and gifts of nature, you ask yourself what you can do for the earth.
Through surveying, small community gatherings, and connecting with individuals one-to-one, we have compiled meaningful and traditional meals, drinks, and elaborate recipes from diverse cultures across states and cities in the United States. The recipes shared in this cookbook are community contributions, directly inspired by their favorite dishes and must-have produce. In an effort to highlight nature’s gifts, once all recommendations and submissions had been collected, plant experts Cynthia Rico Mendoza, of Earthy Mujer, alongside Master Herbalist and Naturopath, Eva Nyrie, worked together to highlight specific health benefits and healing properties packed into these flavorful recipes. In an effort to continue momentum, at-home gardening and foraging sections were included to encourage continuous practice of acknowledging nature’s gifts.”
