Elspeth Hay on re-storying tree-centric food histories

With the ways in which we have internalised systems of oppression and human domination in our dominant culture, it may seem a surprise to many of us to (re)learn the essential food provision of our trees and the intimate relationships humans have had with nut trees over generations and cultures. As we look towards re-embodying ancient ways of nourishing our communities with regenerative, polycultural agricultural and food practices, how can we begin to rekindle our connection to our tree kin?

Elspeth Hay is the author of Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food, and the creator and host of the Local Food Report, a weekly feature that has aired on Cape Cod’s NPR station since 2008. Deeply immersed in her own local-food system, she writes and reports for print, radio, and online media with a focus on food, the environment, and the people, places, and ideas that feed us. 

In this conversation, Elspeth maps out ways in which we can begin “re-storying” trees as food providers by reviving ancient food stories of connection, reciprocity and polyculturalism.

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