ramblings about rot
Mural by Xavi Casals seen in Andorra la Vella | http://www.xavicasals.com/
I did not find mushrooms on my dinner plate until I started doing my own grocery shopping, particularly at my favorite natural foods shop in my hometown that sourced local produce. I was enchanted by the little boxes of earthy, foraged mushrooms. They seemed to be the only items in the store that still had some dirt left on them. I brought them home, cleaned them carefully, and cooked them with salted butter and black pepper. Once I learned that you could activate the vitamin D in some types of mushrooms by letting them sunbathe for a bit before cooking them, that was it, they became my favorite food.
Another food I did not eat as a child? Snails. But I have tried, in my adult life, to eat fearlessly. So when we arrived at a restaurant, Le Bouchon Du Palais, in Dijon, France I quickly ordered the buttery pesto escargot. I wondered where they got all these snails. What did snail farming look like?
In Andorra, glimmering trails are left by large snails at the edges of farmland, in the forest, and on my garden plants. One unfortunate snail met the bottom of my shoe and after hearing a satisfying crunch, I cried in horror, knowing its perfect shell was now flattened to the pavement. Since then, I have thought quite a bit about the little creatures, how they seem even more fragile than slugs despite their hard shell. I too, developed a hard shell to hide in after several years working and living in the city, and at the same time, became more fragile than ever before.
Andorra has a way of slowing you down and invigorating you at the same time. The biking and skiing cultures add a healthy vibrance to the otherwise relaxed country. I remember being particularly struck by a mural downtown la Vella, that perfectly described what I wanted to do every day for the first several months I was here. I adopted a snail-like pace, bed rotted, and snacked. I was happy to relate to some snail species who are “detritivores”, collecting their nutrients from detritus as they graze.
As my season of decay comes to a close, I find myself coming back to life with more energy than expected. Perhaps snacking on detritus, escargot and mushrooms, and slowly exploring the mountains, were the respite I needed.
