Eating Low on the Food Chain at La Vista: Indian Cooking Workshop
By Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, LaVista Ecological Learning Center www.lavistaelc.org
In his encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home, Pope Francis lifts up “small-scale food production systems which feed the greater part of the world’s peoples, using a modest amount of land and producing less waste.” (129) Since its inception in 2001, the Oblate Ecological Initiative has valued small-scale food production by way of the Community Supported Garden as well as by the programs offered at La Vista Ecological Learning Center.
Promoting vegetarianism in our programs has been a concrete way for the Learning Center to share the many benefits of small-scale food production. On Saturday, October 1, the novitiate community joined with other participants to learn how to prepare a vegetarian meal. Anu Trzaska, our presenter, is from northern India and has always been vegetarian. She taught us how to cook Indian curry with a variety of vegetables, chickpeas and delicious Indian spices; a cooling cucumber salad as a contrast to the curry; aromatic rice and kulcha, an Indian flatbread.
It is commonly thought that vegetarian food is boring, but Anu proved otherwise as everyone delighted in eating this tasty meal. Watch for information from La Vista about a second authentic Indian cuisine workshop to be offered in February. Please join us and discover delicious ways to eat lower on the food chain.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO SLIDESHOW OF THE WORKSHOP BY FR JACK LAU, OMI