From the Field to the Plate

The Best Sauce is a Good Story

As we sat down for the first meal of the deer I harvested at the end of the 2023 hunting season, I was overcome with the same sense of gratitude I felt just before the buck walked into my field of view.

I’m not a religious person, but there was something bigger at work that tied those moments in the woods to that meal at the dining table than just the discrete events of shot, butcher, cook. I don’t have a name for what that something is, I just know it’s there and I’m glad to be conscious of it.

I worked my ass off to put that food on the table. From the failed hunt and the more than twelve hours it took to find a doe I wounded, but did not kill, to the 5 days of hunting, butchering and processing the two young bucks I managed to hit with fatal shots to their vital organs.

Other people worked their asses off too, to make that meal possible. From my friend Brandon who’s so patiently and generously walked with and guided me through my hunting failures and successes, to my wife and co-parent who’s willing and so capable of picking up the slack of co-managing and running our household while I’m sitting in the woods in a blind with a crossbow.

So I suppose it’s not a surprise that this broccoli “beef” (venison) was one of the best meals I’ve ever made in my entire life.

Part of what makes wild food, I’ve found, so incredibly satisfying, is how the food tastes when you’re the one responsible for every aspect of how that animal made it to your plate.

For the deer meat I was shoveling into my face, I was directly responsible for every single step in the process of that meal’s primary ingredient. I hunted, killed, gutted (Brandon gutted the larger buck), skinned, butchered, seasoned, cooked every ounce of deer we were eating.

From the field to the plate.

The feeling that comes from that level of participation in your own nourishment and the nourishment of your family is indescribably wonderful. It’s the best sauce I’ve ever had.

And it’s this feeling that, for the majority of our species’ history, that was/is the birthright of every human on this planet. Over the last 5% of our history however, the birthright of being directly and intimately tied to our food has been traded, mostly without consent, for the ‘convenience’ of being unburdened with responsibility for a thing that literally keeps us alive. On balance, I think it’s been a perverse trade.

But my critique of the modern food system isn’t a white libertarian commentary on how people just need to pull up their bootstraps and do as white men with enough “grit” do. There is a broad disparity in who can access wild foods that was constructed and maintained by settler colonialism, white supremacy, and patriarchy.

Nevertheless, the promise of the modern food system as superior to historical food systems is a false promise riddled with instability, that many folks in the Global North are mitigating with increasing their wild food harvest rates. And when/if the modern industrial food system does collapse, perhaps in my lifetime (now entering prepper-ville), I don’t want to be starting from square one in knowing how to feed myself.

So I hunt and fish and forage both because I was dealt such a good hand in life that I have space, time, and resources to do so, and because I recognize the instability and perverse tradeoffs of a modern society rooted in structure inequality and manufactured scarcity.

I want my children to, at the very least, have memories of their parents’ deep and sustained relationships with the beings that fed them, so that if/when the modern system fails them they can draw on those memories, and the skills we are teaching them, to better ensure their physical and emotional prosperity.

Knowing how to do these things may help them hold on to their humanity when/if shit gets real.

Wild food is who we are as a species, one of the youngest on the planet and therefore one of the least experienced in how to live. Our older species siblings are here to teach us and we are here to add to their stories as we create our own.

So, to whatever level you are able to take responsibility for your food, the relatives you bring into your body, please strive to increase that level of participation, responsibility, and community.

I promise that the more you do, the better your food will taste.

If you’re interested in connecting with me as I plan my wild food harvesting calendar for 2024 — namely the species I’m planning to harvest, the tools and techniques such plans take, and advice on how to bring more wild food into your kitchen — send me an email at [email protected]. I’ll be hosting TWO 10 person zoom sessions in February for subscribers to talk about wild fooding in 2024. Free to sign up. First come first serve. All levels of experience welcome!

What’s in my pocket

I hate tech clutter. Specifically, I hate cord clutter on my desk and especially on my nightstand table. I’m thankful for this account on YouTube, who tests all kinds of products related to the technology we’ve all become dependent on:

So when they recommend the Belkin MagSafe 3-in-1 charging stand, AND IT WORKED AS WELL AS THEY SAID, I was so incredibly happy.

I love this charging stand so much that I’ve even packed its bulky and awkward shape into my travel pack because it’s so dope*.

If you’re looking to support this newsletter and you're in the market for something that just brings deep satisfaction through simplicity and function then use the link and I’ll earn a small commission for my recommendation. Cheers!

*they’ve since updated their review since I bought the Belkin and three different products are more highly recommended than the one I purchased. I don’t feel the need to buy their new recommendations, but you might, so I don’t want to front and leave out this important caveat. Just please make sure to use their affiliate links and support their channel and the work they do!

What’s in my ear-hole

Black Thought. Namely, his peerless freestyle on Hot97 in 2018. I believe this is one of the most amazing feats of language mastery in the history of the English language, or any language for that matter.

I’ve leaned on this work and all of Tariq Trotter’s amazing gifts as an artist for years, but especially in my academic career, navigating the sometimes daily bullshit of institutions and people upholding white supremacy.

Put this man’s words in your earhole. I promise, you won’t be sorry.

What’s on my brain

I’ve been thinking a lot about this coming year’s wild food harvesting opportunities and what I plan to do in 2024. Much to my dismay when looking through my pictures of maple syrup making last year, I noticed that the start of that process is about a month away!

But in the spirit of building my business and just generally good practice, I’ve been mentally mapping a system and schedule of tasks that lead to accomplishing the goals I’d like to achieve in terms of wild food harvesting.

More maple syrup, a trip up north to harvest Chinook salmon, a trip to Lake Huron for big trout, and for the love of Black Jesus, a one-deer-at-a-time harvesting policy!

If you’re interested in walking with me in this wild food journey, or, perhaps looking for some advice in achieving your wild food goals, send a reply to [email protected], and let’s see if we can schedule a group zoom call with others interested in the same.

Right now I’m able to commit to two 1hr zoom calls of 10 people each, so the first TWENTY people to reply will have a chance to chat together live next month.

Let’s do this wild food thing together!

Announcements

Speaking of sugaring season, check out this, my first ever YouTube video for what it’s like to make Maple Syrup in your own back (and front) yard

And yes, I know I haven’t posted YouTube content in a while, but it’s coming, will be consistent, and prolific for at least the rest of the first quarter of 2024. Stay tuned and thanks again for SUBSCRIBING!

Thanks for reading! TELL A FRIEND TO SIGN UP!

I’ll talk to y’all next Sunday.

Cheers,

Jonathan