Life is about what we eat; but sometimes it is more; it is why we eat–what we eat. There are so many food movements: what you shouldn’t eat, what you should, what is healthy, what is a spiritual focus. We also eat and have much guilt. There are so many restrictions: “too many calories, too many fat grams, too many carbs.” When we are not thinking of food we are soon to be made to feel guilty. In some traditions you eat everything off your plate… full or not; hungry or not; agrees with you or not. There are so many things that we are suppose to know and don’t: what are the healthy ingredients; what should we avoid.
Food is never meant to guilt us; food should be something that we look to keep us going but to find enjoyment from food. Food is about social pizza. Social pizza is what we share with each other and they create a shared experience / shared memory. Sometimes we exoticify what other people must eat–for example–people who live on a different continent might have different spices; obscure and unknown fruit and vegetables.
My love for food comes from my mother’s kitchen. The fragrant air coming from the hearth of my childhood home was welcoming: a fragrant cinnamon sweet smell perfecting memories of delightful desserts and spicy notes made my stomach chern for what it needed for sustenance.
But when I left home I was afraid of the kitchen. I was terrified that I would waste food and never be able to make an appetizing dish. Cooking for myself; created a desire for me to share with others. A scary proposition in the beginning because we want to serve others a delicious dish. And some how I believeed that any final dish was only achieved through a large agribusiness. But I soon overcame those fears and started cooking from scratch and the alure and magic of prepared foods became less appealing. My hand at cooking allowed me to prepare more things and more often. I enjoyed the results and I love the pure flavours of natural and organic products. The wholesome quality and the bursting, crispy flavour of fresh became paramount in my food shopping.
I love food–life is too good to not enjoy the best the planet has to offer.
Buen Provecho!
James the Food Guy
James Meléndez / Jaime Patricio Meléndez
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