Sherri Brooks Vinton

I want to see your beautiful face! I am putting together a project on Pinterest. Here’s what it’s all about.

I was at a party at this year’s IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Conference, chatting with a gent from the NYC food community about our current projects. I was going on about home food preservation and he said to me, “Funny, you don’t look like a canner.” Admittedly, it was pretty late-heaven knows what I looked like at that point. But it got me to thinking, not just about the changing face of the typical canner, but about the face of sustainability in general.

Contrary to detractors, this movement isn’t just for the fringe-it’s not elitist, it’s not just for back-to-the-landers-real food is for everyone. We are all in this together and I’m really interested in seeing that represented visually.

I recently received a humbling letter from a lovely woman, Claire, who had traveled to Malawi to teach some home preserving basics. The Boiling Water Method allows eaters to even out the availability of highly seasonal crops such as tomatoes and store them at room temperature, particularly important in an area without access to refrigeration. I was honored that Claire chose “Put ‘em Up!” as the text for her workshops. And was thrilled to receive some pictures of her classes. (You can read her letter on
Storey’s blog.)

So here’s what I want to do. I am using these photos from Malawi to kick off a summer-long project on Pinterest. “I Can!” is “A yearbook of eaters and canners and the gorgeous things we create out of the 2012 harvest.” Send me a snap of you or your delicious creation to sbvinton@gmail.com and I will pin it to the “I Can” board. Let’s shine some light on the new face of sustainability-on everyone of us who is working to reclaim the food chain.