From Garden to Kitchen [antikvár]

ForewordIf you bought this book because you desired something new, I must disappoint you. This publication has nothing new to teach. Rather, it represents a returning to ancient lore, to the wisdom of the elders, to a life closer to nature, and to simpler practices.The problem of climate change is global. Food crisis, lack of water - we can see these phrases day after day. This phenomena surely will have an effect on us, on our family and friends in the near future. These are existing problems even when we ignore them. It is therefore worthwhile to stop and think about where this running lifestyle of the world leads us. How long are we able to sustain it, and anyway, is simply sustaining it enough for us? There is a need for global change, but this change must begin in the individual, then in the family. We have to think about what and how we can do to have meals and drinking water on the table in the near future. We have to think about how not to harm our environment.Self-sustaining ecovillages living in harmony with the environment are an inspiring example for us. There are several such settlements in Hungary; Agostyan, Dravafok, Galgaheviz, Gomorszolos, Gyurufu, Mariahalom, Krishna Valley, Visnyeszeplak.Of course, to live an environmentally conscious and healthy life you don't have to move into an ecovillage. You can cultivate your own land: a kitchen garden with the floorspace of 100m2 is enough to give vegetables for a family of four members throughout the whole year. Even a tiny garden can show you how great it is to go out to your vegetable garden, look around and decide what lunch will be that day. Cooking and tasting the vegetables produced at home is an exceptional feeling. After all, you know what is in your meal and you can feel natural energy from it.It's unnecessary to tell you that the best vegetable is what you pick fresh from your own garden. Its taste is different from vegetables bought in shops and supermarkets, so the meal you prepare from it will be different too. Using natural ingredients is becoming an increasingly important part of gastronomy. Gardening means not only a living but also a conscious pursuit that creates a harmonic link between you and your environment, and gives an answer to the crisis.It may sound a little strange, but the truth is that the future of our earth is decided in the kitchen. When a housewife cooks proper meals for her family with the wooden spoon in hand, she affects the future of our planet. We don't