Super privileged food rant

Tis the season of tomatoes, squash and eggplant, and I often find myself hearing (and, dare I admit, saying): " It's too much food! It's all rotting on my counter! If I see one more bean..."

What a terrible problem to have.

Yes, one hundred organic tomatoes on the counter (did you know they shouldn't go in the fridge?) feels like too many. Perhaps it IS too many. But what I'd it were bags of doughnuts? Would we be complaining as bitterly or would we hunker down, unclasp our belts, and dig in before they went stale?

I'm trying to keep perspective. This over-abundance of produce is only "too much" because I'm not used to eating this well. I'm used to the packaged and frozen, pre-salted and fat-alicious. I'm sure my great-great grandmothers would take one look around our kitchens and would roll up their sleeves and "put up" these amazing veggies within a day or two. And they would have been grateful--not irritated--by the abundance of food.

Yes, it means I need to figure out what to do with the produce. I'm starting to walk a bit less fearfully down that dimly-lit path of canning, lacto-fermentation, prepping and freezing, and cooking from scratch. Still a bit nervous, but feeling more confident day by day. Because what an amazing privilege to have: too much food.

Peppers piled atop the toaster? Squash overflowing from baskets? Tomatoes and tomatoes and tomatoes? Bring 'em on! We will be happy and will not complain.

Mostly.