Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ranting Raving Foodie

Food. Everything about it is right, correct, perfect – when we theorize about it in its purest, it exists in the forms. When our senses are fully observant, in their most unreserved ways, not conscious – but instinctive, on some evolutionary plane – eating is a truly sacred act. Ambrosia, the mythical food of the gods, was filled with magical and restorative properties. The ancients reserved the best cuts of the animal as offerings to their deities. Our most religious of acts require the denial or consumption of food. In Christianity, Jesus and his disciples prepared for his impending crucifixion with the breaking of bread. The Lenten period before Easter, in the most Orthodox of senses requires that observers deny meats for 40 days. In Hinduism, food is fundamental in creation – as the source of life, happiness, health, pain, and suffering. Without romanticizing the history, revolutionaries and radicals have employed Gandhian hunger strike methods as powerful political tools. Biologically built into our pleasure drive, we seek it – it fulfills our survival needs, and quenches our quest for contentment. Food is simple and beautiful. Food as we know it today, in our microwaveable, flash frozen, dehydrated, Yellow 5, restaurant chain, buffet line, life sapping, glutton orgy of face gorging has gone wrong. This isn’t to say that millions don’t enjoy their honey glazed chicken quesadilla, served right out of the freezer at the local applebe…tgi..friendly’s. What it does mean is that there is a fundamental, cultural disconnect with how we treat and perceive food.

Why the disconnect? In a country where its abundance makes it easy to find it in all forms, consume it at any hour, devour more than necessary.

Is it time? Money? Our capitalist chromosomes require that we value our time, and the money that we produce in that time is to be treasured. Often we budget our meals, not just around money, but also around the clock. Consider that cafeterias, fast food chains, drive-thru’s are usually more accessible during the standard lunch break than the grocer. Our homes are usually too far away to return to for a shared meal. In this world, high quantity, heavily flavored, fast (fat), equals quality. Unlike in older nations, most metropolitans lack an agrarian ancestry. Whereas, the middle meal, the break from work, is often the largest throughout the world – and this was born out of necessity.

I could continue on, about a myriad different issues. Ultimately, the adage “you are what you eat” rings true – there is great philosophical merit to the statement. What does our attitude towards food say about us as a nation? Does it say that we are efficient, fast, affordable, democratic? Or does it say that we are artificial, that we lack substance, that we are cheap and dangerous? I don’t know, but I suspect the answer lies somewhere in the gray area. - Alexandros Orphanides