Just give it a go

My friend and colleague Casey introduced me to an interesting blog recently: Rohan Anderson's Whole Larder Love. This blog, and now a book by the same name, chronicles Rohan's journey to unplug from Australia's industrial food system (which sounds a lot like the current state of affairs here in the U.S.) and reconnect with sustainable, local food networks. He hunts, forages, grows his own food, cures his own meat, and trades his skills and wares with other local food producers.

Rohan is currently touring America to share his book and thoughts on food and life, and Casey and I had the chance to check out his book talk/rabbit-butchering demonstration at Longman & Eagle. It was a beautifully clear day, warm but not hot, the perfect atmosphere to sit outside, talk about food, and think big thoughts about life. And watch an Australian man cut up a rabbit. This event was not for the faint of heart.


Not only was this event free, but they also brought us some delicious rhubarb gin punch and shared a taste of freshly butchered rabbit. As Rohan promised, it does taste like chicken. So of course I bought the book. It has that new book smell. Thick, substantial pages. It feels hefty, in its physicality as well as its ideas. Pages full of color, in its beautiful images as well as Rohan's humorous prose. Bullets next to produce, a stark reminder that eating meat requires taking a life. 

Could I kill an animal myself? I think this is an important question for every meat eater to consider. Could I hold an animal, feel its heart beat, and take its life? I'm not sure that I could. I've been fishing before, and I've cooked whole fish so I can certainly look into a fish's eyes and then eat it. But a pig or a cow? Maybe I could do it, but I can't say for sure.

"Just give it a go" is a phrase Rohan used frequently during his talk, one of his guiding principles. If you have an idea, try it. Put two flavors together and see how they taste. Plant some seeds and see if anything grows. Experiment. Take small steps. What's the worst that can happen? Starting is the hardest part; once you've crossed that hurdle the rest sometimes just falls into place. 

No one is perfect, but if we all tried to do just a little better, maybe we could effect some positive changes in the world. I'm trying to do that by buying meat from a local farm and writing about my experience. I could do more. Drive less, bike more, buy better produce, garden, compost, be more discerning about what I eat outside of my own kitchen. The list of things I to work on seems endless. I don't have any land; I've tried growing herbs in my apartment but with little success. I have no idea where I could go hunting or fishing nearby. And sometimes I really just want to eat a hot dog. But I have a freezer and internet access, so I can do this. We can all do something. Just give it a go!