Connections to Food, Farming, and Land

Welcome to Essay #1: Connections to Food, Farming, and Land

This will be a personal narrative essay. For this essay only, you are asked to use the “I” perspective and to make connections between your own life (culture) and food, farming and land.

This essay will be 3 – 4 pages full in length, typed, doubled-spaced, sized 12 Times New Roman Font. The main writing strategy you will be assessed on for this assignment is developing inferences at the start of your body paragraphs. We will practice this more for your second draft of essay #1, along with our development of PIE paragraphs. Your first draft is meant to be your best attempt at developing inferences. This essay will need an Introduction, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion.

Prompt:

In our first three weeks of class, we have explored the beginning of the text, The Color of Food, by Natasha Bowens. We have read poems and watched slam poetry videos related to the topics of food, history and personal identity. We have also read multiple, supplemental articles detailing some history of farming, as well as connections between food and culture, and between food and language.

Using your critical thinking skills such as close reading and developing inferences, consider the quote from Dr. Monica White:

“We have legacies of innovative and cooperative agriculture, traditional food ways, family heritages and powerful stories rooted in the land” (Bowens 4).

Using the ideas and references in this quotation, consider your own connection to food, land, and farming. You can focus on one or more of these topics. How do you culturally connect to food, land, and/or farming? Is there a tradition in your family, community, or culture that involves food, land, or farming? Is there a dish, recipe, or cuisine in your family, community, or culture that is particularly significant to you? Why? Do you hold specific memories related to food and culture?  What can food, land, and/or farming teach us about ourselves? What are the connections to our own ancestry and history? What are the connections between food, land, farming and our future? 

You can also consider the quotation from Will Allen and Karen Washington:

“There is no reason why people of color should not be leading [food] movements. It’s amazing how thinking ahead is really going back, back to our roots” (Bowens 6).

How can one’s past and future be connected in relation to food, land, and farming?

You may add research to this essay as you see fit, and if it supports your exploration of your own connection to food, land, and farming.

This essay is a critical thinking assignment that requires you to consider the history, context, multiple meanings, evidence, logic, inferences and conclusions of your own connection to food, land, and farming. This is a personal narrative; it is your story. You can always choose what you want to share, and what you do not want to share. You have a choice, and your choice will be respected by me. Please write about the topics, connections and inferences that you feel able to share. If you’re struggling with sharing your own stories, please reach out to me and we can brainstorm less personal ways for you to share your knowledge in this essay.