Powered Up Ramen: From cupboard staple to lesson in food sovereignty

By Deana Ortega, Food Corps Nutrition Specialist with La Semilla’s Edible Education Program

In November, we powered up ramen
Not to make it fancy, but to bring it home.
A pantry staple.
Vegetables grown by small hands in school soil.
Food that carries story, memory, and choice.
Ramen was what we had when the cupboards were almost bare.
Today it’s loud, colorful, over-seasoned.
But here, it became something else.
A lesson in food sovereignty.
A practice of land stewardship.
An invitation for kids to decide what nourishment feels like to them.
They spoke honestly.
They trusted their bodies.
They were heard.
This is what growing food makes possible.

Tlazohcamati