Root Vegetables and World Hunger

These vegetables were scrounged from my refrigerator. I'll make Root Soup. I wish all families could have abundant spiritual food....and a good meal every day.

The book is a favorite of mine "Tibetan Portrait" by Phil Borges; text by the Dalai Lama:"World problems cannot be challenged with anger and hatred. They must be faced with compassion, love, and true kindness."

Root Soup is a wholesome soup that my mother used to fix for us after we'd been ill with the flu or a cold. It helps to restore vigor and provides essential nutrients that have been lost through fever. Rutabaga, turnip, parsnip, fennel, leek, shallot, celery root, potato and carrots are added to a vegetable broth.

My daughter called me today during her lunch break. She was distressed over the plight of the Haitians who aren't able to feed their families. She mentioned Saint Louis Meriska's children, who ate only two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal on one day and then went hungry the next day. "They look at me and say 'Papa, I'm hungry'," and he has to look away. That hunger is palpable across the globe, in Africa, India, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, El Salvador, Mexico. One woman in the slums of Haiti was willing to give away one of her children if the person would feed him. It is an act of desperation no parent should feel.

The United Nations World Food Program will help.
Bread for the World will help.

The real solution comes when we understand that none of us can move forward in our lives as true human beings until we understand our inter-connectedness, everything is dependent on everything else. Then we will be committed to addressing the issue of global hunger.

I told Ruhiyyih that I wish everyone could grow their own garden, have a milk goat and a few chickens. Start there, grow root crops, yams, collards, and share them with your neighbors. If there is soil, something can be grown. I told her about the military widows in Greece who fled up into the hills when the Germans came. Their only nourishment was field greens, and it kept them alive. Olive trees kept them alive too....some of those trees are over a hundred years old.

We have dandelions in the back yard - tender greens just poking through. They are edible.

There are fallen calendula petals on my kitchen counter. As I pushed them into a little point I wondered if they were edible. They are. Sprinkle a little on your salad and you're fighting inflammation.

(I'm going to include my "Root Soup" recipe here, as I cannot find it on the Internet)

Root Soup

4 potato
1 onion browned in olive oil
2 or 3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
1 celery root, diced
1 fennel root, diced
1 cup leek, finely sliced
1 rutabega, diced
15oz. vegetable broth
1/3 cup barley
1/3 cup cilantro
4 cups water (optional) - for boilingveggies
1/4 tsp tobasco
1/4 tsp curry
rosemary, bay leaves, parsley flakes
basil, dill

Simmer all together for an hour until cooked.
Slightly mash to combine the textures.