I'm having a busy week this week. In amidst looking after the kids, reading through the proofs for some Bible notes that are being printed soon and catching up on emails from being away, I'm trying to lay up some of the wonderful produce that's around at the moment. As summer begins to give way to autumn we become surrounded by nature's bounty: apples, blackberries, elderberries, plums, tomatoes.... and so yesterday saw me making up jars of home-made roasted tomato passata, slow drying tomatoes in the oven and making appley lemon curd. Today I'll do more tomatoes and am going to bottle some plums (in brandy - yum!) and make blackberry and apple leather. Even Greg got in on the act and has made some nasturtium capers!
As I stirred the lemon curd yesterday I wondered why I was spending so much of my time on this when, really, I could easily pop to the shops and buy some, leaving me with time to get on with other things that I need to do. As I reflected on this I realised something important: my cooking is my theology.
The way we cook and the way we eat reflects what we believe. I believe that God made this world and all that is in it, and that he loves it and wants us to live in a way that demonstrates that love. To me, cooking with local seasonal produce and putting it aside so I can use it later rather than buying it air-freighted and out-of-season from the supermarket is one small way in which I can do that.
As I stirred the lemon curd yesterday I wondered why I was spending so much of my time on this when, really, I could easily pop to the shops and buy some, leaving me with time to get on with other things that I need to do. As I reflected on this I realised something important: my cooking is my theology.
The way we cook and the way we eat reflects what we believe. I believe that God made this world and all that is in it, and that he loves it and wants us to live in a way that demonstrates that love. To me, cooking with local seasonal produce and putting it aside so I can use it later rather than buying it air-freighted and out-of-season from the supermarket is one small way in which I can do that.
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