I’m writing this from my bed right now. It’s 22.33, and I am exhausted. Exhausted, but happy. I’ve worked for two days in a row in Oma Maa / Lassila Farm’s kitchen (check the previous post for Oma Maa) from the early hours of the day until evening. It was quite a lot of work, but it was so much fun, with a bunch of lovely folk from Oma Maa. And today’s recipe is mostly made by using their organic fresh produces from their weekly food bag that I got last week.

Now, with this recipe post, I want to talk a bit about food sovereignty. Food sovereignty is a term and movement which advocates for people’s right to make their own food-related decisions and for people taking their food future in their own hands. There are many organisations, farmers, communities working on this topic, fighting hard to change food policies all around to respect this idea. In the local context of Finland, Oma Maa food cooperative is a significant example of a community of people trying to take their food future in their own hands, based on “CSA” (community supported agriculture). To know more about how Oma Maa works, check their website in English.

So back to this recipe: Oma Maa prepares weekly food bags for their members with their own fresh and dry produce and also products such as bread, oat yoghurt, hefu (hemp tofu) and falafel etc. What I did for two days this week, today and yesterday, was to prepare a carrot spread for their Christmas food bag. I also helped with the making of other products when I had time.

What did I have in my bag last week? All the stuff you see in the photo below! The best thing is? That I know where this food is coming from. How it is produced. Completely organic. Using sustainable production techniques that are not hurting the earth. By good people who want to make a real change in this world, with their hands deep in the soil, and not just preaching anything in front of a computer.

In the coming weeks, I will write more about food sovereignty and my ideas on sustainable food futures, hoping to start a discussion here. In the meantime, here is the recipe for the heartiest thing I could imagine with what I got in the food bag. Enjoy!
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Ingredients:

Difficulty: Easy
(serves 4)

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, sliced small
1 leek, diced (can be omitted, in that case use a bigger onion)
3 potatoes, diced
1 parsnip, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 sunchoke, diced
1.5 litres vegetable broth or water
1.5 dl (or 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) dairy-free cream (I used Oatly iMat.)
salt and pepper to taste

for homemade rye croutons* (optional):
4 slices of rye bread, each about 0.5 cm thick
1 tbsp olive oil

to serve, with croutons (optional):
herbs (I used chives)

*I made the croutons with rye bread as that was the bread I got from the food bag. You can use gluten free bread and make it the same way as the rye version.

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1. In a large pot, put olive oil on medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for about 3-4 minutes, until it is translucent.

2. Add garlic, leek and potatoes and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add parsnip, carrot and sunchoke, and stir it.

4. Add vegetable broth or water, stir and put the lid on. Let it boil.

5. When the soup is boiling, stir it again, put the lid back on and lower the heat to medium.

6. Cook the soup until all the vegetables are very tender (for me it took 10 minutes). When it is ready, take it out of the heat and puree the soup well using a blender.

7. Add cream, salt and pepper and put the soup back on medium heat. Stir well. Cook the soup for 3-4 minutes. Serve warm with croutons, herbs or anything else you want (or plain!).

8. If you want to make homemade croutons: Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut rye bread into crouton size cubes. Mix with olive oil. Put the cubes on a baking tray with a baking paper. Let the bread cubes toast in the oven for 5-7 minutes, until they are very hard. Let them cool down a little before serving on top of the soup. You can make this soup beforehand, even a day before, provided that you keep them in an airtight container. Put them in the container when they are thoroughly cooled down to room temperature.