Agitating Action

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Some of the social action projects I’ve heard about lately got me thinking: How can we start more intelligent discussion about issues going on in the world? Recently my friend and I discussed her distaste for a shoe company that donates shoes to a poor child every time you buy a pair of shoes. She felt not only was it not really addressing issues, it was addressing problems superficially. I am all for socially a conscious business that promotes a good cause, but the question becomes what these types of projects really do? I am sure you have heard the expression “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Given that it’s a metaphor, what if you are teaching a man to fish and he lives around no bodies of water? Or what if he knows how to hunt and you want to teach him how to fish? Too many accepted “helpful” ideas follow this flawed logic.

I am one for pushing the envelope and expanding peoples’ minds, maybe even creating a little bit of controversy. If handled correctly, these moments have the largest potential to create change.

I am a fan of movies that throw in a twist in the concluding 5 or 10 minutes--the ones that make you go back and rethink the entire movie. And in a way I think social action projects should do the same to provoke us to think outside the box of what we know. Don’t give because you see people are poor--examine and question the system that allows this to occur, and maybe even challenge your own sub-conscious thoughts that people are poor because they are uneducated or not smart enough.

Social action projects have the ability to raise our awareness. I recently learned about the Ghana think tank which takes “first world” problems to the “third world” to solve these problems. I love this idea.  This challenges the old sentiment that those in the “first world” are the only ones capable of fixing problems for those in the “third world.” People’s capabilities are often limited only because of the rhetoric and social conditions used to keep them marginalized.

So what does this have to do with food and conflict? Well, for one thing, those who know me know that I can literally include food in almost every conversation I have. Secondly, solutions to conflicts are too often oversimplified. It’s like putting a tiny bandage on your arm when you have a gaping wound on your foot. Raising awareness of issues of conflict is wonderful, but minimally effective if it doesn’t push people to start asking questions. Unfortunately, there is no lack of international conflicts going on in this world, so as global citizens we need to start thinking about engaging in a meaningful way. Well, you know what I propose--that we start the process with food, discussion, and action.

Did you know . . . that some of the most important work done in high-level negotiations happens during the meals that conflicting parties eat together? In honor of the connection food creates let’s all eat hummus. It is debated where exactly hummus came from in the Middle East, but I can assure you all different kinds are delicious!!

Recommended Movie

The Other Son (Le fils de l'autre)

What we see as fact may be much more fluid than we think. The idea of permanency in belief may be challenged when life makes us question what has been true to us for so long. Sometimes life hands us the opportunity to open ourselves up to humanity and see another who has seemed like an enemy for so long as a possible friend or even a relative. The Israel/Palestine conflict has been one of the long-standing conflicts that seems far from resolution. The movie The Other Son (Le fils de l'autre) is a story of two boys--one Israeli and one Palestinian--who were switched at birth whose families finally find out what happened when they are in their late teens. It raises two major questions: Are we really so different from one another? What happens when our reality is longer valid? This film explores these issues with both power and sensitivity.

 

 

 

Hummus Recipe

(makes 2.5 cups) 

Ingredients

• 1 cloves of garlic
• 1 (19 ounce) can of garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• 1 clove of garlic chopped
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• Black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions

1. In a blender, chop the garlic. Pour garbanzo beans into blender, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, chopped garlic and salt in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.
2. Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with reserved garbanzo beans.

(Recipe from allnewrecipes.com)

 

Jalapeno Hummus Recipe 

Ingredients

(makes 2 cups)

• 1 cup garbanzo beans
• 1/3 cup canned jalapeno pepper slices, juice reserved
• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 3 cloves of mince garlic 
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 curry powder
• crushed red pepper to taste     

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor, mix the garbanzo beans, jalapeno peppers and reserved juice, tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. Season with cumin, curry powder, and crushed red pepper. Blend until smooth.

(Recipe from allnewrecipes.com)