It’s in the name of education. On the surface a study of Jamestown Settlement, the beginning of the Virginia Colony. Much more than that a lesson in understanding just how fortunate we are and having a grateful heart.

There was a time that the settlers of Jamestown ran so low on provisions all they had was gruel and beer (they couldn’t drink the water).  Boiled grain (gruel), probably sans salt and definitely sans sugar comprised every meal unless they could forage for berries and nuts. What would it be like to eat only gruel?   

My family is on the lower end of middle class in this country.  But compared to the world, we are rich. This country is rich. We have plenty of food available, grand grocery stores to buy it in, and fuel at the ready to help cook it.  Even at our soup kitchens, the poor can receive a meal that a settler in Jamestown in 1609 might literally have killed for.  

Could a wealthy family in the same land, but 400 years later, understand what it would be like to barely subsist?  The short answer is no, not in our present circumstances: but we could try to experience a lack of choices, indulgence, and comfort - to bring a reminder of what it is like for people in difficult circumstances, across the world and across time.

The participants:

Victoria - almost 7 - food enthusiast extraordinaire. She will eat just as much food at a meal as her parents, especially if it is pizza, pasta, or perrogis.  She's used to three meals and three snacks a day but will often complain that she is "starving."  Because Mommy makes her, Victoria drinks mostly water.

Morgan - almost 5 - picky but passionate.  This one doesn't eat quite as much as his sister but tries to keep up.  He will often balk about a meal he has yet to see or taste and likes to pick at his dinners - when more varied foods are on the menu.  But he loves food and if it's something he likes, such as baby carrots, he eats with gusto!  Morgan loves to have tea made for him but rarely drinks it - like his sister, he drinks mostly water. 

Then there's me - almost 30 - sugar addict and nutrition warden all in one.  If I am not careful, I will eat a lot of bad food for all the wrong reasons. But I try to make healthy choices for my family, often to the irritation of those in the house who just want another donut (myself included.)  I'm the grazer in the family, which is probably what my kids would be if I let them.  My beverage of choice is coffee but I limit that to one or two cups of 1/2 caf. a day and drink a lot of hot tea otherwise.

My hypoglycemic husband is sitting this one out. 

The experiment: well, you are going to have to wait to find that out.

....To be continued