Gardening and working in the community as a volunteer present a meaningful opportunity to help others engage in a fulfilling activity. It's also an opportunity to encourage more ethnically diverse groups of growers by learning about and introducing different regional crops into our growing repertoire. I draw from experience volunteering in a variety of primarily Black, Latino, Indigenous and Asian farm communities over a few decades — but there are certainly many others to learn from in our region! The main lesson has been to make gardening relevant beyond the obvious benefit of “grow to feed yourself.” Making connections to culture creates incentives for involvement.
Food as Identity
The “culture” in agriculture derives from the word cultivate. Before the 19th century, the word culture was quite specific to preparing the earth for crops. It serves as a reminder that we are cultivating community when we suggest culturally relevant crops – ones often part of culinary practices based upon where folks (or their ancestors) come from. These practices, also referred to as “foodways,” represent a rich intersection of history and tradition.
Gardening within foodways creates communal and generational connections. In some instances, it has even served as the basis for empowerment initiatives and actions around food justice. Overall, when people recognize foods they want to eat, they are more encouraged to grow them.
Garden as Grocery
Several of the crops in local cultural foodways are no strangers to Los Angeles groceries, but a lot of folks don't even consider growing them or know that they are actually easy to grow in Los Angeles gardens. Perhaps the best known is the Three Sisters Garden, a trio of crops that honors the traditions of Indigenous foodways. Corn, beans and squash are grown in complementary positions and offer balanced nutrition. In other traditions, the following offerings are just a tip of the iceberg (not lettuce though!) of moderate-to-easy to grow plants.
For Black gardeners, plants like okra (especially burgundy variety for show), cowpeas (black eyed peas), sweet potato, fish peppers and collard greens are easy growing options.
In Mexican and Central American communities, many growers might appreciate nopal (prickly pear cactus), chayote, sapote, epazote (an easy herb), tomatillo and a variety of chiles.
Local Asian foodways often focus on produce popular in Chinese and Southeast Asian communities. These include jujube (Chinese date), coriander (cilantro), bok choy, kohlrabi (su hào), Thai basil, Thaieggplant, sweet potato leaves and lemongrass.
The great thing is that many of these crops—sapote, squashes, sweet potatoes, cilantro—overlap in foodways and cultures, further uniting our tables. Several are variations on things that a lot of people already grow, like eggplant, peppers and kale.
Our great fortune in being able to grow a diversity of plants should also serve as inspiration for tapping into, and learning about, the diversity of communities and (agri)cultures in our region.