Change, One Person At A Time

My mother-in-law is a first generation, Cantonese immigrant matriarch who scraped her way to a comfortable life for herself and her family with the hallmarks of millions of immigrant family stories before her: working hard, being resourceful, managing every penny like it was the last. I doubt she has ever been opposed to eating fresh and healthy food, but I also imagine she has never given much thought to how something is grown - value is paramount in ensuring everyone gets fed on whatever budget they had growing up. She lives in the San Fernando Valley in LA, and shops often at Chinese supermarkets in Monterey Park, where the best price can be had - and you never know where the food comes from. She is one of the last people that I thought I might influence to participate in any kind of good food movement. But what a difference shopping at a good farmers' market can make.

My mother-in-law recently spent a couple weeks with us in the San Francisco Bay Area. She joined me on our Sunday morning routine, shopping at the Mountain View farmers' market. As we walked, my favorite vendors greeted me by name, I picked up a bag of satsumas that she knew her granddaughter would devour, and she saw the richness and diversity of food that I could buy at the market - fruits, vegetables, eggs, beef, cheese, nuts, honey and much more. As idyllic as this experience sounds to me, I'm not sure she gave much thought to any of this. I'm guessing she thought it was a pleasant walk that was one of those funny, "green" things that her odd son-in-law did.

And then she found the chestnuts.

Fresh chestnuts. She was delighted to see them. I think they took her back to her childhood in Hong Kong. She bought a couple pounds, took them home to cook, and she was in heaven. She kept asking me to taste them, and asked if I liked them. She lamented that she wouldn't be around for another Sunday market to buy more. She asked us to buy a couple pounds for her the next weekend and ship them to LA (!). And then, when she got back home to LA, she looked up farmers' markets near her (!!!) - and plans to hit up the Calabasas market on Saturday, and/or maybe the Agoura Hills market on Sunday.

Wow. Really? Who knows if my mother-in-law will become a regular farmers' market shopper, or develop an appreciation for fresh local produce, or develop any relationships with the people who grow the food she eats. But, man, this is an inspiring step. If my mother-in-law can take this step, I am optimistic that many, many more can.