2020.
Thankfully, it is time to bid you farewell. Let’s just say this past year has been emotional. I’ve felt it all, from anguish to despair to empathy and even elation (as I danced on the streets this past November with my fellow New Yorkers together in celebration).
it was an emotional rollercoaster.
There’s been such sorrow as we bore witness to the staggering numbers of illness and death in our country and our world. As I’ve tried to make sense of our new reality, and explain it in a way that makes sense to my children, I’ve realized that sometimes sense cannot be made. I’ve learned to acknowledge the tremendous loss and hold space for the grief.
Mostly, my heart has been filled with gratitude. In 2019, gratitude was something I had to practice at. In 2020, it simply became the air I breathed. Gratitude for my and my loved ones’ health, for friends and family, for social connection (even over Zoom), and for access to plentiful and nourishing food, for Mother Nature, for clean air. The list goes on and on.
I’ve also felt a lot of anger, at racial and socioeconomic injustice, at the growing disparity between those who succeed and profit while others suffer and are left behind. I’m working on turning that anger and helplessness into action.
THERE WAS COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.
The pandemic also opened our eyes to the many problems of the food industry and our supply chain – the fragile nature of the hospitality industry, the essential workers who are also some of our lowest paid, the difficult and often unsafe working conditions of farm and factory workers, the amount of food waste existing side by side with massive food insecurity. (The fact that the wealthiest nation in the world has 18 million children that are food insecure is a tragedy of epic proportions.) How the way we grow and eat food affects global climate change. How representation matters. All of this. We cannot go back to the old ways.
But we’ve also opened our eyes to the power of the consumer to enact change by the way we shop and eat. That’s you and me. Sometimes something as simple as what is at the end of our fork three times a day can create massive shifts in our collective consciousness.
WE FOUND THE SILVER LININGS.
You already know that Provenance is the manifestation of my mission to make the world a better place through real food – food grown in traditional ways that supports our emotional and physical health instead of harming it. I’m fired up to be part of a broader food movement that promotes true health for individuals, for our society, and for the planet.
If there’s a silver lining to the incredible amount of stress we’ve experienced in 2020, it’s that we’ve also all become a little more resilient, a little better equipped to handle uncertainty, a little bit better at presence. So even though this new year has already delivered its share of emotional ups and downs, we know we can face it with grace, kindness, and strength, for ourselves and for our community. Welcome, 2021.
Yours in health, happiness, and everything in between,
Provenance Meals
Founder + CEO
