the thank you dish

"And thank you, kangaroos," said Grace.
"Kangaroos?" said Mama. "Why would you thank the kangaroos?"
"Well, I'm thanking the kangaroos for not eating all the carrots," said Grace.
"Ah," said Mama.

These days, it's not always easy to tell where our food comes from. And when we do know, it still doesn't always make sense. Apples from Chile? Peanuts from Georgia? Avocados from Mexico? Well, The Thank You Dish​, written by Trace Balla and published by Kane Miller, opens up that discussion.

Grace and Mama are sitting down to dinner, giving thanks. While Mama starts out with typical items for gratitude - "the rain, the soil, and the sunshine" - Grace pipes in with more abstract gratitude: kangaroos, alpaca, road workers. 

Mama asks Grace to explain each choice, and we discover the alpaca provided the wool for the scarf that kept Uncle Fred warm when he caught the fish... and the road workers fixed the path Grace and Mama used to get to the nearby farm stand. Each time a new object of gratitude is mentioned, a little silhouette doodle of that origin story is added to the scene, so that by the end of dinner, you can see a whole food community supporting this seemingly simple dinner.

I love this story because it highlights (or at least begs the question) of where our food comes from. And while we can't always afford, or don't have access to, locally grown produce, it's so meaningful when you can help your kids pick out an apple grown in a nearby orchard instead of flown in from New Zealand.

It's that book that invites the food discussion while encouraging questions and gratitude equally.

Book benefits: 

• Storyline of food origins invite questions about where our food comes from, and why
• Silhouette doodles accumulating through the story encourage kids to track the storyline from start to finish
• The running theme of gratitude reminds us all to give thanks for what we have, wherever it came from!

Buy ​The Thank You Dish​ here! (hardcover, $9.99)