Recently, as we were starting to plan out our holiday food issue, I was driving to work at 7:30 in the morning with food on my mind and I was suddenly struck by a line of people snaking out the door of a donut shop. Then I noticed a line of cars ten deep at the drive-through window of a fast food restaurant. I had passed by these same sights day after day but it didn’t hit me until that morning, with questions of how this issue would inspire and inform our readers about eating healthy running through my head, how much food has become an afterthought in our culture. Sitting down and eating a meal at a table with plates, silverware and slow cooked food is practically unheard-of nowadays. So by the time I arrived at the office, it was clear to me that I wanted to use this issue to show our readers that food and our relationship with it have the power to affect us in deep and profound ways. I wanted to convey ways in which we can approach eating as a real spiritual practice that enhances the quality of our lives.
One of my commitments when I started Yogi Times was to create a publication that would inspire its readers to seek out and live healthy, happy, conscious lives. With that in mind, I wanted to do more with this issue than simply tell you which restaurants to go to and how to cook some nice recipes. I wanted to examine the role food plays in our lives on a psychological as well as a physical level. I wanted to explore the role of food in the spiritual traditions that have shaped the many cultures present in our society. One of the big observations that came up among our team as we were putting this issue together was how almost every reference to food in the media, whether on the covers of women’s magazines, on the news or in the newspapers portray food not as a blessing or a gift but as an obsession, a vice or a temptation, something to be controlled and feared. So, in this issue of Yogi Times, you will not see any advice on how to lose ten pounds in a week, or how you can look like a supermodel and still eat all the chocolate you want, or what the latest low-carb, low-taste, low-consciousness diet fad is.
What you will find are articles about how some of California’s cutting edge chefs are going the extra mile to support local farmers and provide exquisite healthy dishes to their communities. You’ll read practical advice on how you can slow down and start to experience food again. You will find personal experiences from people who have changed their relationships with food for the better and discovered its blessings in their lives. And, just because it wouldn’t be a food issue with out them, you’ll find some fantastic recipes that are sure to make your holiday a tasty one.
I invite you to sit down and enjoy this issue and also to take a moment to examine your relationship with food. If you treat it with love, respect, patience and reverence, it is bound to become a lifelong friend.
Namaste,
