While the word "foodway" is fresh enough that it is not yet recognized by Microsoft Word or my Mac's spellcheck, it is a phrase whose origins are as old as time. Merriam-Webster says the word foodway describes: "...the eating habits and culinary practices of a people, region, or historical period." In essence, a foodway is the story of a particular food, and by extension, the story of the people who eat it.

I would like to encourage everyone to begin to think of their food in this way. Imagine if the apples you pick in the fall could tell you where they had been, if they could tell you that are descended from wild ancestors thought to have come from Asia and Europe. Imagine if the morels you forage at the earliest signs of spring could tell you how they came to flourish in such abundant numbers in Michigan. Imagine your life as the story of your personal foodway. We are what we eat...so what are you? What am I?

Learning about food is, quite literally, learning about the fundamentals of our existence. There are stories within the history of food that rival the best mystery and encompass all the elements of a great epic: a journey, a conflict, and a truly great and lasting love.