So as I sit here eating my lunch by myself in my office, I am reflecting on food and eating, what it means to me, my family and perhaps less so, what it means to the collective "US". I find food interesting because it plays such a pivotal role in our lives...I guess it makes sense from a sustaining our physical selves stand point but where it gets interesting is the role it has in our emotional and social well being. How often do we meet somebody over coffee and a bite? When I go to conferences, the meet-and-greet portion always has food and drinks. All of our major family occasions revolve around a large meal. Clearly we are conditioned through evolution or social engineering to desire food as catalyst for social interaction at minimum a support.
What intrigues me currently is that for James and Andrew, this is not the case. Currently, they are in a place where food very much meets a physical need. They get cranky when it isn't ready on time sometimes to the point of meltdown. They eat when they are hungry rather than to survive an awkward moment socially or as an excuse to say hi. They truly are in food as a means to survival and growth mode...but this maybe changing. Since starting them on solid food (a while back), they have often turned up their noses at something that didn't taste "good". This was often the case with new foods which after a night or two of peddling to them and in some cases trying to shove into their pried open jaws would finally be considered reasonable or at least edible. More recently, both James and Andrew have been eying any food that Adrienne or I eat. More specifically reaching for cheerios, crackers, ice cream, etc. Over thanksgiving as we all munched on appetizers, there they were munching right along...going off for a walk and then coming back for more. This past weekend we attended a family birthday party where James and Andrew discovered potato chips, bugles, cheesies and other such goodies...after eating a few of these items, they decided that spaghetti wasn't good enough for dinner and that they would hold out...leaving us with two very upset boys later in the evening. Bellies were empty but they were refusing to eat the non-junk food...All this is to say that they are starting to notice that food plays a different role then simply filling your belly but that it also is something that we do to pass time, to provide distraction in social settings, to meet around and when it's available to graze on as we go about our business. Maybe this isn't a momentous shift in their perception of sustenance, maybe I am reading into it too much...but it has made for some interesting things to ponder.
So my little men who are now wandering from chair to chair and wall to wall in an effort to transverse much of the house without sitting I guess that what might be important to take from this is how lucky we are that food, something that in parts of the world (including our own country) is far from plentiful is something that can have so many meanings for us. Being able to pick and choose what you want to eat is a luxury that many of us take for granted. Similarly being able to gather family and friends around a table of food is a richness that certainly not everyone can afford. We are in a fortunate place, one that allows us to connect emotion to something physical but it is important to try not to allow it to quantify that emotion. After all, we should be able to feel this way whether we are surrounding a pumpkin pie or an empty table.
Love,
Dad.
PS - Eat your veggies!
PPS - The Newspaper is not a veggie!!!!
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