I realized recently that it's very difficult for me to like or admire people who view food simply as fuel. I used to know a lawyer who said he only ate in order to survive.
I avoided him as much as possible.
How can you not revel in the sights and smells of food?
Haven't you ever buried your nose in a bag of ground coffee and just inhaled that lovely aroma?
Every once in a while I step outside myself and I see what I'm doing, and smell it, and I think yes, this is a very good thing. This is a happy memory I will carry with me forever.
Don't laugh, but I felt like that tonight when I was cooking dinner. I was standing at the stove, cooking onions and peppers in canola oil and a little butter, with taco seasoning mixed in to give the aroma a little kick. As the wonderful smells of red peppers and orange peppers and onions permeated the air, I thought to myself, I hope when he grows up and smells something like this, it will remind Michael of home. And even if I am long dead and gone, I hope this smell will bring me back to him.
I carry in my memory certain smells like that. I remember the smell of my grandmother's fried chicken, cooking in the big square electric skillet she thought was a marvel. The can of Crisco on the counter. The smell of fresh green beans cooked with side meat. The divine fragrance of hot bisquits out of the oven.
Is it any wonder that I associate food with love?! [I'm sure a Freudian would have a field day with that.]
I love to cook but I don't need fancy food to feel loved.
When I was in graduate school and was very poor, I took my laundry to my parents' house every weekend, to save money and get a free meal. I always got back to the apartment and found cans of tuna and Campbell's soup in my laundry basket, and often a $20 tucked into my purse.I could eat on that for a couple of days, that soup.
One of my very favorite foods is Walker's Scottish shortbread - a pretty simple concoction of flour, butter and sugar. Before you cringe in horror, take a look at the Walker's website. They use no artificial anything - no hydrogenated fats, no animal products, no GMO ingredients. And they are certified Kosher.
[So if you're looking for a Christmas gift for me, hint hint...]
I like complex foods too, like chocolate mousse - but only to eat, not to cook.
So to recap: Food evokes feelings, and memories.
The smell of clean laundry is one of my favorites.
I love to inhale the odor of city streets, steamy after a summer thundershower.
Baby's heads are also delightful.
When I was a little girl one of my favorite places to be was my grandparents' kitchen. Papa would make bacon on a broiler pan in the oven, eggs would be scrambled, coffee would percolate, fresh orange juice smell would waft around - it was a veritable symphony of smells. And afterwards, he would fix me bits of toast with precise dabs of butter and honey, which he put into my mouth like feeding a baby bird.
I ate a piece of buttered toast the other day and put some honey on it. The taste made me happy, for a moment, and then I wanted to cry.
When I am dieting, and eating lots of salads, I miss the smells of food as much as the taste. The smells are comforting.
Cinnamon and nutmeg smell and taste like Christmas.
I don't know what I would do if I lost my sense of smell.
Probably lose weight...
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