Food

As I was sharing a lovely meal with a friend this evening (thanks for supper, Christine!), we got to looking at and sharing recipes and talking about food. I really like food; not only because it sustains my existence, but because it brings people together. Or, I think it should. Recipes are very organic things - they are modifiable and sharable and adaptable to a person's taste. (Check out www.allrecipes.com for an amazing recipe site that brings people together in a less direct way.) People eat together at all sorts of important occasions - birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, any kind of celebration. We take those occasions to sit down together and share (hopefully) good food and company - that should happen more often, if not at every meal (which I realize just isn't possible). Recipes are passed down and written on and memories are built around them. The more splotches of ingredients on them, the better as far as I'm concerned.

We are all connected by food, and I think that for the most part we have a very unhealthy attitude toward it. If we're not eating to comfort ourselves, wishing we were thinner or dieting and counting carbs and calories, we're using food as a reward or a punishment. Quite awhile ago, I read a book about slow food... I think that the slow food movement makes lots of sense. (It's funny - the slow food site loads slowly. :))