I'm a foodie. I like to eat well. I like to try new restaurants on a whim, and it doesn't much matter if it's a four-star celebrity place, a chain, or a hole-in-the-wall with a questionable health score. I am a creature of the senses, and a perfect dining experience pings all each one: smell, sight, taste, touch, and sound. It isn't about paying a lot for the food either. I've had meals that I paid entirely too much for that were mediocre, and bites that were near-orgasmic for which I paid a handful of change. I love to cook and try out new recipes. Few things makes me happier than cooking for other people, introducing them to something new and bringing them a little bit into my world.
That said, I wasn't brought up on an overly varied diet. "Back in the day" it was cheaper to cook your meals than buy them at a drive-thru, and given that I grew up in the country, our veggies, eggs, milk, and meats were still sourced relatively locally (I still maintain that milk from the Wiregrass area tastes so much better than anywhere else). A typical dinner was chicken or pork, usually fried or roasted, Veggie-starch(usually potatoes), Veggie x2 (something green + carrots or corn), and Bread (rolls or cornbread). We tended to eat out once every couple of weeks or so, usually at the Canton House, since Dad knew the owners, sometimes at Conestoga (Amazing local steakhouse. If you ever go to Dothan, AL I highly suggest you try them), or one of a few other local places. We didn't have many chains in the area when I was younger. Oh we did hit Red Lobster a fair amount. It was the only "seafood" place we had for a long time.
Going out for dinner was a special occasion. There was none of this going to dinner in a T-shirt and jeans business. We were asking other people to feed and take care of us, and those people deserved a proper show of respect for their establishment and their work- at least, that was how I was taught. In all honestly, it was a couple of years after moving to Memphis before I was really comfortable not getting dressed up to go to say, Applebees.
(I will aside now to say that, even in chains like Applebee's or Outback, or Macaroni Grill, you tend to get better service if you are dressed slightly better and are pleasant to the waitstaff, even if you don't order extravagantly. Also, if I can avoid eating at an Applebee's I will. They have proven to be pretty universally terrible.)
I was also taught- despite having a fairly unvaried selection of food choices- to not be afraid of trying something new. Part of this was because of my Dad and his job. When the nice Japanese gentlemen come over and bring things to eat, you don't refuse because it looks weird. Green tea became a favorite of mine by the time I was eight, and I'd tried foods like duck, squid, and other typically kid-repelling foods by that time as well. Lobster squicked me until adulthood though. Mom brought home two to cook for her and Dad's anniversary one year, and all I could think of was that they looked like overgrown roaches. Also, watching her kill them was freaky. I have long gotten over that issue, having dispatched my fair share of the little buggers and sent them to the delicious afterlife covered in garlic butter and breadcrumb stuffing. But I digress.
Being a foodie doesn't mean I don't eat "crap" food, especially lately. It's cheaper now to buy prepared food than to buy stuff and cook it. It's much, much faster, and time has become something of a premium for me of late. Also, cooking for myself is much less satisfying than cooking for myself and other people. One of the things I love the best about enjoying a good meal is enjoying good company along with it. Running through Arby's or KFC, or whatever satisfies the need for sustenance, but often doesn't satisfy the need for a meal. There is also the fact that sometimes, it's about the food memory. If I'm really missing my Dad, for example, I order Pizza Hut cheese sticks and find Star Trek:TNG on TV. My Granddad? I find those cheap-ass fake orange push-up pops. If I miss Greckle I make dumplings, and Mom? I make chocolate chip cookies. (yes, those cookies)
The point I'm getting to is that I believe one should live to eat, not eat to live.
I've been overweight my whole life, and I've talked to a whole lot of people who are the same over the years. When I have been at my heaviest in my life, I have been eating the most poorly, and the same tends to hold true with others. The less time, thought, and care we put into our meals, the higher the fat, salt, etc content, the higher the preservative content, and the worse we feel overall. The worse we feel, the more we eat, because our body is craving vital nutrients that we aren't giving it. But when we take the time to prepare real food from scratch, when we savor each bite, when we stop and notice the individual tastes, textures, and scents of our meal, we feel more satisfied with our overall dining experience. We feel better, and since we are left full, but not left wanting, we make better choices.
Let me try to explain. Nearly everyone has eaten an apple at some point in their life, right? But have you really? Have you ever picked up an apple and weighed it in your hand, noted how heavy it seemed for its size, how taunt and shiny the skin was? Have you ever smelled it and been able to taste the sunlight, the wind through the trees, the floral perfume of apple blossoms before you ever took a bite? Have you ever bitten into an apple, really noting the skin as it snaps under pressure, your teeth sinking into the soft, sweet flesh underneath? Felt its sugary juice running down your chin, liquid sunlight, that first bite quenching hunger and thirst in one?
Did I just totally change the way you'll look at an apple from now on? One can hope.
Eating shouldn't be something we do just to keep our bodies moving. It should be an experience. It doesn't matter what type of diet you follow- traditional, vegan, vegetarian, whatever- chances are what you are eating was once a living organism. Yes, even your Taco Bell taco is composed of things that were once living (even if they are no longer recognizable).
Food, the art of dining- it should be respected. It doesn't matter what you grew up eating or what types of foods were available to you then. It doesn't even matter if you have no wish to broaden your culinary horizons. Enjoy what you eat, respect what you eat- and respect yourself in the doing thereof.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
