Thursday, January 06, 2011

What Does Food Mean to You?

**I've been asking myself a lot of questions about food since I've been here. One of them being, "What does food mean to me?" These are just some thoughts I've had.**

Family dinners are common in my house. Granted, the past 3 years have been insanely and unfortunately busy, so they have become a little less frequent. However, I am lucky to have a family where it is important to eat dinner together. We sit down all together at the kitchen table, maybe turn on some music, and eat.
And I've realized from shoveling cow poop every day (and I suppose from our seminars as well...) (okay mainly from our seminars, but still!) that food is somewhat essential in bringing us together. Dinner is where I have some of my favorite memories growing up. Dinner is where I learned how to think for myself. Dinner is where my family and I learn about what's going on in each person's life. And dinner is where we share food together.
It's a food culture, you see. And I think it's very important in the US.  At least in my circle of friends at home, when there's a party or social gathering, there's typically some sort of food involved, whether it's a meal or snacks or dessert. When you want to get to know someone or catch up with them, you invite them to dinner or lunch. On birthdays, we look forward to cake. During the holidays, there are certain foods we can't wait to eat.
This is just one part of our food culture in the US, but it's one that I really appreciate. Food is a way to bring people together. It's a bond we share. That's what food means to me.
So I'd like to ask you too: what does food mean to YOU?
Just thinking out loud. :)

1 comment:

  1. Hannah, I've thought a lot about this recently, especially in terms of eating at the dinner table. I agree with you.
    ~Courtney

    ReplyDelete