Last week on a sunny Saturday, I gathered around the table with four friends. Somewhere between the warm coffee cake and the caribou bahn mi, we came up with a plan for how to start 2015 off right.
The idea is simple: take a photo of yourself with one food-related goal that you have for the year. No resolution is too big or too small: Learn how to bake bread; take the family salmon fishing this summer; start a new food tradition with friends. Eat fewer processed foods. Support local farmers. Cook.
Then post it to social media with the hashtag foodyearsresolution.
I helped found the Anchorage Food Mosaic project in 2011 as a way to build community through food and inspire Alaskans to engage in their relationships with food. Each and every one of us is an active participant in the state's food system; we cook, eat, grow, hunt, fish, harvest, buy, sell and share food on a daily basis.
Our state is growing more and more ethnically and culturally diverse -- it's common to find neighbors snacking on dried hooligan fish or Filipino pancit noodles, or discover the grocery store down the street carrying paneer and taro root.
Food is a common denominator for all people and it's a tool we can use to share stories. These stories bring us together, explain differences, celebrate traditions, provide opportunities for learning and teaching and generate interest and excitement for food, its many facets and all the interactions and meanings it has for us.
New year's resolutions are often self-critical and individualistic. We want food year's resolutions to be positive and about building community. Teach someone how to cook your favorite meal. Try a new cuisine. Volunteer on a farm this summer.
Join me and be part of a community conversation and movement to create change, one bite at a time.
Shannon Kuhn lives in Anchorage, where she writes about food and culture, and is a co-founder of the Anchorage Food Mosaic.