Food 101

If you had asked me, six or seven years ago, to describe what food meant to me, I’m not sure I would have been able to answer the question. It would have been like asking me what I thought of the air I breathed. Food was simply there. It was all around. I took it for granted. It was invisible.

All that changed when I lost weight. In the last five years, I’ve been forced to come to terms with what food means to me. It’s been a revelation to learn just how interwoven what I eat is with how I feel, how I relate to other people, how I see the world. I like to think of myself as a logical, rational person, but when it comes to eating, I am anything but. This could be why I was almost fifty years old before I could lose 100 pounds – and keep it off. My experiences in these last five years have lead me to believe that I’m not the only one who sees food as something other than mere sustenance.

Maybe that’s why we can’t relate to what doctors tell us about our diet. They just don’t seem to get it. They lecture us about dry scientific stuff, like the benefits of monounsaturated fat versus transfat, paying attention to cholesterol and sodium, practicing proper portion control. They talk as though the way we eat was about nutrition. Silly doctors.

Food is so much more than calories and carbohydrates. Whether you can articulate it or not, eating is not something you do just to stay alive. So now, as a public service, let me share with you my hard-earned understanding of the many meanings of food. I call it…

Food 101

Food is love. Anyone who has ever prepared a meal for a special someone knows this. Anyone who bakes knows it too. Not all foods are equal in this regard – broccoli will never say love the way brownies do. In fact, chocolate has become synonymous with Valentine’s Day, the celebration of all things lovely.

Food is comfort. Why else do we call it “comfort food”? It is what you crave on a cold night, when all you desire is to curl up under a blanket on the couch. It is warm, mushy, filling. The idea of comfort food is why grilled fish and veggies will never be more popular than meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Food is stress relief. Had a hard day? Have a cookie, you deserve it. Notice how you never hear anybody say, have some green beans, you deserve it? For immediate stress relief, a truckload of sugar is required. (Exercise will do the same thing over time, but we Americans are way too busy to wait for that.)

Food is sexy. Do you doubt this? See some of my previous thoughts on food advertising.

Food is satisfaction. Feeling burned out at work? Wondering how your life became an unending “to-do” list? Dreaming of retiring to a cabin in the woods where you can spend all day doing what you love? Don’t worry. Just tell your troubles to Ben & Jerry and there, there, everything will be all right.

It’s a wonder that any of us can overcome this emotional tsunami of gastronomy. Of course, you do know that none of it is actually true. What’s true is that food has no meaning other than the meaning you give it. You ask if I’m suggesting that you create your own food story? Well, yes, you do. If food is love, you eat the cake. If food is nourishment, you have a piece of fruit instead. What if you decide that food is both love and nourishment? Damn. I hate it when that happens.