The 31 Vegetable Challenge, January 2021

For the month of January, I challenge myself to eat 31 different vegetables; each one a significant component of a meal.

My challenge is to aim to photograph and describe the vegetable and meal every day for the month of January – but no penalties. Just 31 vegetables by the 31st!

Good morning, on the very last day of December 2020. I haven’t written a blog post for a very long time; this year has been an extreme challenge for so many of us. But I’m hoping that 2021 will bring fresh opportunities for me to write and fresh opportunities for me to challenge my eating.

The month of January was named after the Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. He was the Roman god of doors, gates, and transitions. The god with two faces, for his ability to turn one face to reflect upon the past and a yet another face freshly pointed upon the future. The god who held a key in his left hand, to the metaphorical doors or gateways between what was and what is to come—the liminal space of transitioning out of one period of time and into something new.

For the ancient Romans, the association between Janus and the calendar was cemented by the construction of 12 altars in Roman, one for each month of the year.

Janus’s temple was in the Forum Holitorium (Italian: Foro Olitorio; English: Vegetable-sellers’ Market) – which was the site of a commercial marketplace where fresh goods of vegetables, herbs and oil were delivered via the Tiber River and placed on sale.

So, I’ve discovered on writing this that my challenge has gone full circle. I started 2020 in January with a challenge to photograph 31 gates, doorways or entrances in memory of the Roman god Janus and to post on Facebook. I now plan to start 2021 photographing 31 vegetables I have eaten.

One relating to the other, looking forward and looking backwards. I raise my glass of wine in memory of the dual faced roman god Janus.

Wishing you a Happy New Year early, in case you’d like to join me in my challenge.

And if you’d like ideas of vegetables or to record which vegetables you’ve eaten, there’s a chart on my resources page.

Sources of information: https://www.andersonlock.com/blog/god-doors/ and https://theconversation.com/who-was-janus-the-roman-god-of-beginnings-and-endings-86853