Food Challenge Update

Written by
Tate Gooden
Published
25 October 2017

According to David Pimentel, a Cornell Evolutionary Biologist, a family of five would require 200 hectares of land to support their hunting and gathering needs. That’s nearly 500 acres of ideal habitat to provide adequate plants and animals for the family. With modern agriculture, much of it nearly unsustainable, the family of five could have their food needs met with 2 to 5 acres of production. Obviously, these are estimates as it is impossible to come to an exact number because of the variables of climate, soil, geography and growing practices.

These numbers and this Food Challenge Project have made me think about the difficulty of sustaining yourself from the land year in and year out. The preparations and obligations to truly subsist on the land are a hard truth and not easily attainable. As my fish and moose supply have been hit hard, I notice that the downtown garden is still full of rutabagas and turnips. The greenhouse has lettuce and kale. The energy requirements and land use lessons hit home on a local scale too.

This experiment has shown me that the bounty of today’s world has either blessed or cursed us; having experienced the plenty that is available to us, we are unable or unwilling to fully return to a true huntergatherer lifestyle. And even if we wanted to, it’s not really possible anymore. There are too many of us, and not enough land if we look at it collectively. In Alaska the landscape can still provide a huntergatherer lifestyle, but is it the most effective use of energy?

With two weeks left in the food challenge, and many pounds shed back to the earth, it is time to reflect. There have been many questions, thoughtful discussions, dinner considerations, hunger pains, and food addiction recoveries, but one thing is for certain – Food has taken center stage. And this is how it should be. Food ought to be more important than entertainment or insurance, but sadly as a society we spend more money on the latter two.

So as the Food Challenge draws to a close, I have been thinking about what my family can take forward from this experience. I am determined that we will eat more wisely, out of gratitude for all that we have, out of respect for the resources this Earth provides, and most importantly out of a desire to attain the gold standard of Health that real food provides for real people.

What’s my take away from this challenge?

  1. Food and Health should be the prime priorities of our lives.
  2. Alaska root crops are the best in the world. California, you can keep your woody carrots and pithy turnips.
  3. There is a term called ‘toxic hunger’ (see Eat to Live by Joel Furman) that relates to our addictions to highly refined carbs and cheap sources of fat and protein. The hunger experienced during the Food Challenge, after the first week, is more subtle and manageable.
  4. The first week was the hardest.
  5. There is true freedom that comes from liberating yourself from the industrial food pipeline, not to mention the flavor, nutrients, stories and relationships that a locally-sourced diet provides.
  6. I have a new appreciation for the people who came before. Their dedication and obligations to the food system and its relationships are an education we can only glimpse. The hardy people who once subsisted solely from the land struggled to do so, and often starved. In their time and place finding food was a constant Challenge; there was no “at the end of six weeks.”
  7. Why didn’t I prepare a barrel of willow leaves cured in seal oil?
  8. Igiugig kids walked to Big Mountain hiking through a surging Lake Iliamna, sleeping in cold wet gear, packing heads of lettuce and dry fish in their packs, and swimming across a swollen frigid Belinda Creek all without tears or complaints...these kids can do anything!

For more Food Challenge stories see the print version of our newsletter. Download the Printable October 2017 Newsletter

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