The Color of Food, Part III

“Pull up a chair.

Take a taste.

Come join us.

Life is so endlessly delicious.” 

(Ruth Reichl)

We began in the chef's kitchen, sauntered out to the farmer's field, and now we complete our brief food pilgrimage by sitting down to dine. This week we explore the world of eating. 

I have been making regular visits to my 90-year-old father who is in palliative care after breaking his hip a month ago. For the first three weeks of his post-surgery convalescence dad did not eat anything. In fact, for most of that time he had an NPO order on his chart - nil per os; nothing by mouth. His only nourishment was via an intravenous drip. Last week, though, the NPO was lifted, allowing dad to eat whatever he wished. He had a bag of chips! 

Eating is hard for dad; he is very tired, and has barely enough strength some days to feed himself. In addition, the food he is eating is hospital standard fare - lukewarm, and barely yummy. Consequently, he has little motivation to eat. The aforementioned chefs would be aghast at the quality of dad's food. While there are times when survival depends upon the consumption of any available calories, when mouldy bread might be a feast, poor quality food is not the ideal to which we ascribe. 

When we sit to board, the fare before us need not be exotic to be life-giving. It ought, however, to be rich in aroma and flavour, and bursting with nutrients. The fruits of the farmers' labours, through the chrysalis of the chef's kitchen, in metamorphosis become life and breath for us. My dad's final feasts should be filled with such a new-life miracle. 

“One cannot think well,

love well, sleep well, 

if one has not dined well.” 

(Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own)

As a culture we are forgetting how to dine well. In forfeiting slow food (cooking from scratch) we have also forfeited actually experiencing that which we eat. I watch dad slowly and carefully manage each bit, deliberately chewing each mouthful, taking time - even with hospital food. In his last days he is teaching me, calling me to wake up to the gift of food, the wonder of eating. A meal truly eaten is one consumed with mindfulness, awareness, and gratitude. 

When my family and I sit down to sup we take a page from Thich Nhat Hanh's writings, wherein he describes a Vietnamese Buddhist custom. Before eating a bell or gong in invited to intone. As it rings, the diners give silent thanks for the food, and for all who took part in growing and preparing the food. They still themselves, laying the hurry and rush of the day aside, breathing in the aroma of the meal, simply being present to the miracle of the meal. When the vibrations of the bell have ceased they take the first mouthful of their repast, indulging in an explosion of taste. 

“If you can eat with mates or friends or family,

I mean, it's such a brilliant thing isn't it?

If you feel really rubbish

and you have a nice bit of food

it makes you feel good, you know?” 
(Jamie Oliver)

Jamie ties it all up in a nice neat knot: good food eaten in the company of those whose lives are interwoven with our own - this is dining. I sat with dad during supper yesterday; a nurse kindly and gently assisted him in eating; mom and I bathed dad with presence, and the moment birthed holiness. Such is the power of eating, of communing; such is the that mystical dance of field and farmer, cook and kitchen, table, plate, and palate. 

Perhaps it is time that we awoke to the power of good food, slowly cooked, slowly eaten, in the company of our fellow sojourners; the power of life, the gifts of the earth. When next you sit down to eat - smell your meal, taste your meal, let your eating be a Sabbath. 

I leave the last word to poet Kahil Gibran:

“And when you crush an apple with your teeth,

say to it in your heart:

Your seeds shall live in my body,

And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,

And your fragrance shall be my breath,

And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”

(Kahlil Gibran)

The color of food...

Eden within us.

Good food

shared

sates

our

longing

Breathe

Pray

Eat

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6.19-20)

- From Hinduism: "Now will I glorify Food that upholds great strength, by whose invigorating power Trita rent Vitra limb from limb. O pleasant Food, O Food of meath, thee have we chosen for our own, so be our kind protector thou. Come hitherward to us, O Food, auspicious with auspicious help, health-bringing, not unkind, a dear and guileless friend." (Rig Veda, Hymn CLXXXVII. Praise of Food)

- From Celtic Legends: "When thou takest thy food, think of Him who gives it, namely, God, and whilst thinking of His Name, with the word put the first morsel in thy mouth, thank God for it, and entreat His grace and blessing upon it, that it may be for the health of thy body and mind; then thy drink in the same manner." (From the Rudiments of Divinity, Egwyddor Dywiniaeth)