Natural Foods
Natural Foods
Feeding the Body and Nourishing the Soul
This chapter discusses the activities of gardening and foraging that are part of the dacha lifestyle and investigates how the value which Russians place on “natural foods” reveals concerns with personal satisfaction, social well-being, and spirituality. Russians' natural food practices present an intriguing alternative to other popular models of natural foods and organics. Slow Food promotes a regressive vision of economic development that is at odds with the realities of Russia's market. The roots of “natural foods” in Russian landscape that are both physical and symbolic are explained. At dacha communities along the river, residents continued to drink the tap water because they trusted it to be naturally clean. Natural foods are credited with fostering internal balance and harmony, and are also the conduits through which Russians articulate their most personal feelings of intimacy with the natural realm, often in ways that convey a nature-centered form of spirituality.
Keywords: natural foods, dacha, gardening, foraging, personal satisfaction, social well-being, spirituality, Russian landscape
California Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.