Sunday, March 05, 2006
The Sweet Taste of Fresh Pease
Story by Mike Wille
SF State’s Holistic Health Learning Center is promoting a concept that deserves a chance: A 64-day season of peace. The 9th annual non-violent season began on January 30 and will last until April 4, recognized by the memorial dates of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. respectively. Both of these men were murdered for merely speaking their ideologies.
A daily journal outlining the principles of love and action for social and personal change at http://www.sfsu.edu/~holistic/ is inspired by the lives of the two celebrated profits – a guideline to remind us that we recognize, yet continuously fail as a society to practice their teachings. Each day of the season sets forth a task for the practitioner that focuses on personal, interpersonal or communal change. An example would be: Day 16 – begin the day by writing down five things you are grateful for. Day 29 – write a letter of forgiveness to someone and move on with your life (fortunately you do not have to mail the letter). Day 35, LOVE – focus on what you appreciate most about the person you like the least.
Because I believe in the ideology of the season but know darn well that I could never maintain the capacity to carry out such daily tasks, I have regressed to what I know best, which is food, in search of 64 days of peas. My research, although not complete, has uncovered remarkable similarities that reach far beyond the pronunciation of pease and peace – yes, "pease" as they were once known in the English language as derived from the anlgo-saxon word "pise."
By adding the number of days in the growing season of the most common varietals such as Little Marvels, Petite Pois, Sugar Ann Snap Peas and Lincoln Shelling Peas and dividing by the number of varietals, I was able to come up with a mean score of 64. Coincidence or not, this was one of many common threads between the two homophones.
Peas were one of the first crops to ever be cultivated by man. An archeological dig at Jarmo in northwestern Iraq revealed pea carbon that was estimated to date back to 7,000 B.C. (give or take a thousand years). With 2,500 dead soldiers in the last two years and an estimated 30,000 dead Iraqi civilians, it is safe to say that Iraq is long overdue for a resurgence of pease.
Catherine de Medici introduced piselli nouvella, a tiny sweet pea that is still popular in today’s French cuisine. The fresh sweet peas were so different from the dried split peas of peasant fare that they became a part of the French culinary renaissance among the elite and were dubbed petite pois or "little peas." Oddly enough, you never hear anyone asking for a lot of peace. Often a little peace seems to be just enough. The French tried to achieve their "pease" by refusing to take part in Iraq war, although they will have to cook up some new schemes with the Iranian uranium issue being brought to the dinner table.
And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had a dream that one day, "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." If that day ever comes, I would be willing to bet those sons will be breaking cornbread over a traditional southern meal of slow cooked pork, collard greens and Hoppin’ John – a dish of black eyed peas and rice.
Although dried, frozen, and canned peas are available throughout the year, the season for the fresh pea harvest is short, similar to our brief season of peace. The pods must be pulp and shiny without being over-ripened, as their sugars begin to convert to starches. Peace, as well, seems to loose some of its impact when it spends more time as an idea and less time as a practice. Perhaps sooner, rather than later, we will all have an opportunity to taste a little bit of fresh peace.
SF State’s Holistic Health Learning Center is promoting a concept that deserves a chance: A 64-day season of peace. The 9th annual non-violent season began on January 30 and will last until April 4, recognized by the memorial dates of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. respectively. Both of these men were murdered for merely speaking their ideologies.
A daily journal outlining the principles of love and action for social and personal change at http://www.sfsu.edu/~holistic/ is inspired by the lives of the two celebrated profits – a guideline to remind us that we recognize, yet continuously fail as a society to practice their teachings. Each day of the season sets forth a task for the practitioner that focuses on personal, interpersonal or communal change. An example would be: Day 16 – begin the day by writing down five things you are grateful for. Day 29 – write a letter of forgiveness to someone and move on with your life (fortunately you do not have to mail the letter). Day 35, LOVE – focus on what you appreciate most about the person you like the least.
Because I believe in the ideology of the season but know darn well that I could never maintain the capacity to carry out such daily tasks, I have regressed to what I know best, which is food, in search of 64 days of peas. My research, although not complete, has uncovered remarkable similarities that reach far beyond the pronunciation of pease and peace – yes, "pease" as they were once known in the English language as derived from the anlgo-saxon word "pise."
By adding the number of days in the growing season of the most common varietals such as Little Marvels, Petite Pois, Sugar Ann Snap Peas and Lincoln Shelling Peas and dividing by the number of varietals, I was able to come up with a mean score of 64. Coincidence or not, this was one of many common threads between the two homophones.
Peas were one of the first crops to ever be cultivated by man. An archeological dig at Jarmo in northwestern Iraq revealed pea carbon that was estimated to date back to 7,000 B.C. (give or take a thousand years). With 2,500 dead soldiers in the last two years and an estimated 30,000 dead Iraqi civilians, it is safe to say that Iraq is long overdue for a resurgence of pease.
Catherine de Medici introduced piselli nouvella, a tiny sweet pea that is still popular in today’s French cuisine. The fresh sweet peas were so different from the dried split peas of peasant fare that they became a part of the French culinary renaissance among the elite and were dubbed petite pois or "little peas." Oddly enough, you never hear anyone asking for a lot of peace. Often a little peace seems to be just enough. The French tried to achieve their "pease" by refusing to take part in Iraq war, although they will have to cook up some new schemes with the Iranian uranium issue being brought to the dinner table.
And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had a dream that one day, "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood." If that day ever comes, I would be willing to bet those sons will be breaking cornbread over a traditional southern meal of slow cooked pork, collard greens and Hoppin’ John – a dish of black eyed peas and rice.
Although dried, frozen, and canned peas are available throughout the year, the season for the fresh pea harvest is short, similar to our brief season of peace. The pods must be pulp and shiny without being over-ripened, as their sugars begin to convert to starches. Peace, as well, seems to loose some of its impact when it spends more time as an idea and less time as a practice. Perhaps sooner, rather than later, we will all have an opportunity to taste a little bit of fresh peace.
# posted by Phil Deez @ 9:36 PM 