Behind-the-scenes: Bonus content from our EARTH issue
Soundbites and reflections on herbalism
In this edition of FFJ’s behind-the-scenes newsletter for paid subscribers, editor Zoë brings you bonus content from our EARTH issue, including never-before-heard soundbites from her conversation with Melanie Allen and amanda david from Black Farmer Fund and additional reflections on herbalism, spirituality, and ancestry.
Before publishing our EARTH issue, I had never given much thought to herbalism or its overlap with food traditions. Or maybe it’s just that I’d never thought about it in those terms. Growing up, my mum would often use food to cure my ailments — ginger for an upset stomach, spicy soups for congestion, turmeric for inflammation — remedies that I still turn to as cures to this day. Although I may not have thought about these interventions as herbal medicines, working on EARTH made me realize that by turning to food, herbs, and spices as a first line of defence against illness and hurt, my mum was enacting a long, cross-cultural tradition of care.
With these ideas percolating, in my interview with Black Farmer Fund, I asked amanda david to help me understand the connections between food and herbalism.
“It's all the same relationship of, you know, bringing plants into our body towards health and wholeness and healing,” she explained. In the audio clip below, she shares her thoughts further.