Hi Everyone,

What an experience I just had! I spent the last two weeks prepping and cooking for a camp of 40 people at Burning Man, a surreal, whimsical, art festival that takes place each year in the desert at Black Rock City, Nevada.  I had seen photos, and heard stories over the years, but nothing could quite have prepared me for the real experience of being there. One of the founding principles of Burning Man is to build an economy and city, not based on money, but based on everyone sharing their unique talents and gifts. As a Virgin Burner, as I came to be called, I felt my biggest gift that I could share was my ability to cook and create community around a communal table. Through a friend, I was invited to join the Infinity Community Camp, which was a camp to support the artist, Matt Elson, and his art installation, Infinity Boxes. It took months of planning and coordinating to make it happen, but it was worth it. The camp turned out to be a wonderful, working, collaboration of people from all different walks of life, coming together to support an art project, yet bonding and growing together as a community through the shared meals we all had together. It never ceases to amaze me, the power of good food, especially when infused with love! It can transform a group of 40 individuals into a cohesive community, enjoying conversation, getting to know one another, and savoring the pleasures of the table. However, cooking at Burning Man is not without it’s challenges! I have been told that the wind, dust and sand storms that we experienced this week, were the harshest one’s in the history of Burning Man. Imagine trying to cook in a tent, that is not only covered in dust, but has dust and sand blowing in it as you cook! It was so comical, that all I could do was laugh and keep from peeing in my pants, while thinking about what the health department would say if they could only see me now! Thankfully, the wind wasn’t always blowing, so we had some calm moments in there too. I planned a breakfast and dinner for 8 days, and as in my usual tradition, I prepared enough to share with our neighbors and friends. Everyone pitched in, both in the prepping and in the cleaning, so I never felt burdened with the responsibility. It just became another platform to get to know everyone, and to dance our way through the kitchen!

I am happy to be home, and returning to my usual rhythms, but I will always keep the memories of this past week, and the people I met, very close to my heart!

This week, on the Progressive Radio Network, I will be interviewing Ava Chin, author of Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love, and the Perfect Meal. I met Ava this Spring at the TEDx Talks in Manhattan, and loved learning about what she does, and knew I wanted to share it with all of you. Her book won 1st Prize in the 2015 M.F.K. Fisher Book Awards for Excellence in Culinary Writing, and Library Journal chose it as one of the “Best Books of 2014.” Her writing has appeared in The New York Times (“Urban Forager”), the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Marie Claire, Saveur, The Village Voice, and Eating Well, among others. A former slam poet, Ava is an associate professor of creative nonfiction at CUNY and a fellow at the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University. The Huffington Post named her one of “9 Contemporary Authors You Should Be Reading.” Please join me on Thursday, to learn more about Ava Chin, and the art of Foraging!

Remember, my show is recorded live, every Thursday, from 10-11 am, EST.  To tune in, navigate to PRN.fm and click the “Listen Live” button on the left. Also try downloading the PRN mobile app, and take the station with you wherever you go! If you want to call in during the show with any questions for me or my guest, the call in number is 888-874-4888.

If you can’t tune in at that time, you can listen to the show in the PRN archives, or on my website, or through iTunes.  Please “like” iEat Green’s Facebook page and feel free to rate the show and leave comments on iTunes and on my website. Thank you all for your support.

With love and gratitude,

Bhavani