Dear Data: Prompt #0 - The Sacrificial Pancake

Welcome to our first community experiment in data-based nature journaling where we use Dear-Data style format (but digital) to notice patterns in the natural world, share observations creatively, and have fun connecting with others in our community! 

If you have not had a chance to read about what this project is about, I want to nudge you to check this article first to get familiar with the format and cadence. It’ll help the rest of this post make more sense. 

This is our Sacrificial Pancake - a playful warm-up round before the quarterly prompts begin in January (which can also be sacrificial pancakes! Each work is a practice for the next one, isn’t it?). The goal is to practice noticing, reflecting, and connecting — both with our food and with ourselves. 

We’re kicking things off by building on Akshay Mahajan’s November prompts about The Tummy Journal.  For this first prompt, we’ll explore our connection to food - not as a calorie log or diet tracker, but as an invitation to practice mindful awareness. 

“Why start with food instead of nature?”, someone asked me. Well, food is nature, but it is also simply an easier place to practice thinking in terms of data. It’s a gentle way to build that visualization muscle before we explore other parts of the natural world.

Over the next few days, I invite you to focus on the following steps to help you decide your focus area + identify what data you may want to collect .

STEP 1 · OBSERVE
Leave a notebook somewhere visible - kitchen counter, dining table, wherever you usually snack or prep. For a few days, write down whatever food thoughts pop up.
Examples:
• We wasted a lot this week.
• My cholesterol is high - Am I eating right?
• What’s seasonal and local right now?
• What deliciousness should I stir up for Thanksgiving?

STEP 2 · FRAME YOUR QUESTION
Look through what you wrote. What keeps appearing? What pulls your attention? What would you actually like to noticing more regularly
Example: Am I eating nutritionally balanced meals more often than not?

STEP 3 · DEFINE YOUR INQUIRY
After naming your key question, translate it into a few specific, observable cues you can actually pay attention to. These will help you determine what data you may want to collect, how often, and when.
Example:
For me, “nutritionally balanced” looks like:
• Not skipping breakfast
• More home cooking
• Daily mix of fat + fiber + protein + complex carbs
• Eating a rainbow of colors each week (a trick my mother-in-law taught me - different colored food often signal different nutrients!)

STEP 4 · COMING UP NEXT….
Next time, we’ll turn your cues into shapes, colors, size, and marks on the page.

You can choose to pick any path you like to frame you question, but if the limitlessness of it feels overwhelming, here are some possible pathways that you could explore: 

Notice the colors, textures, smells, tastes, and sounds of your meals. Which ones draw you in? What makes your tastebuds tingle?

Example Question: "Do I eat more slowly and feel more satisfied when I notice the textures, aromas, and colors of my food versus when I eat while distracted?"

Reflect on the people, moods, or memories that shape your eating moments. Who do you share meals with? Did your meal remind you of some one/some place? What foods bring energy, comfort, or nostalgia?

Example question: "Which people, places, moments am I reminded of when I eat certain food?"

If you’re curious about balance and wellbeing, explore your nutrient awareness - how different foods make you feel physically and mentally, without judgment or guilt.

Example question: "Do I reach for different types of foods depending on whether I'm feeling anxious, tired, or energized?"

Zoom out to the journey of your food — where it comes from (local? Imported? from where?) , how it gets to your plate, what happens to leftovers (trash? Compost? What do the local facilities do with Compost?) . What patterns or surprises do you find when you trace that flow?

Example question: "How much food waste does my household generate in a week, and what types of meals or food sources contribute most to that waste?" (Register for Akshay’s upcoming class for some trash+data treasures if this topic interests you! ) 

Is there another theme that you are more interested in exploring? Go with that! 

Start: November 20
End: December 31
No daily commitment required -  gather data at a frequency that feels sustainable and joyful. Explore one or multiple questions!

By December 31, you'll have one (…or more) visual page that reveals patterns about your relationship with food - whether that's 5 days of data or 30, what matters is the noticing.

A community Padlet is available to post your pages and peek at others’ work.
Link to Padlet 

Feel free to post pages about your question exploration, brainstorming / work in progress pages, various options you explored, end results etc. Make use of the caption to describe your project or to invite/decline feedback/comments on your post

Keep and eye out for the next article with tips to go beyond the key-question to building your visual vocabulary for the data visualization, suggested material / supplies, etc.

This is as much a learning journey for me as it is for you. I want to know what works, what doesn't, and what you need more support with. Share your excitement when something clicks. Share your confusion when you hit a wall. Share your "I tried this and it totally didn't work" moments - those are just as valuable as the successes.

Your questions, challenges, and experiments help me understand what to write about next. We're co-creating this process together. I can't wait to see where your curiosity takes you - and what you teach me along the way.

As a welcome/ thank you - I’ll leave you with this video from the OG creators of Dear Data! Enjoy!!