Day 11: Berries

Berries seem like a good follow-up to nuts. There are so many types of berries, it's a good opportunity to expand your horizons beyond the usual strawberry, raspberry and blueberry. The deep colors of berries are associated with their antioxidant power.

One thing that's kind of interesting about many of the fruits we eat is the way that they have naturally evolved over time due to human influence. This isn't the same as genetic modification or even intentional breeding, but a totally unintentional selection process. For hundreds of thousands of years, early humans ate the fruit that most appealed to them, and spread the seeds far and wide. Other animals played a role in this too.

I've talked about thanking the sun, the water and the earth for the food we eat. Those are big, concrete things that we can see every day. But the idea of "how food evolves", the way that life pushes forth, changes and adapts is also a good reason for gratitude. It's just as factual as the sun. Life force allows us to be and continues to sustain us. There is nothing we've done to deserve this, and we are inextricably part of it all.

Deep thoughts to go with each tender, sweet-sour raspberry!