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 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.
Thanks, Sandy. As with any love, I suppose, the love of food can take a healthy or an unhealthy direction. I've never seen it expressed better than in that heartwarming, pivotal scene from the movie "Ratatouille," when the mean critic, intent on writing a review that will close the restaurant for good, is served ratatouille, and the smell and taste suddenly send him back to the happiness and freedom of his childhood, when his mother would make ratatouille for him. Smelling a roasting chicken or turkey transports me to simpler days of walking through the front door of my grandmother's house for a cherished family dinner. I'd hate to see us losing our opportunity to feel things like that, but you're right that it does need to include a bit of judgement. My grandmother also made chopped liver (chopped chicken livers mixed with schmaltz, which is chicken fat) and "gribenes," literally deep fried bits of chicken skin. Both unspeakably delicious, both will kill you fairly rapidly. Today those are but fond memories I wouldn't go anywhere near. I think it's ok for food to be connected to love and comfort, as long as we remember we still have control, and that our choices are supposed to warm our hearts, not stop them.
ReplyDeleteBen
Ben, I had no idea that schmaltz meant chicken fat! Gives a whole new meaning to the word! You are right about certain foods bringing back memories. Those kinds of memories are so emotionally charged that it's hard to resist whatever delicious little morsel goes along with it. That's one of the reasons I'm writing this...
Delete@city: It's nice to meet you! I'm glad you enjoyed this post and look forward to seeing you here again.
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