Creating, cooking and eating food is much more than simply meeting a basic human need – it is an art.
This is the guiding philosophy of the Italian pasta company, Barilla. I was reading a pretty interesting story about their company this past week and came across it.
I’ve turned many pages in my quest to maintain a healthy relationship with food. I’ve deprived myself, binged one day a week, concentrated on specific food groups and tried to view food only as a fuel source.
The problems with the first three speak for themselves. It took me a while to recognize my problem with the last relationship.
There was a time when I felt that if I viewed food only as fuel I could eliminate the temptation to overindulge in things that tasted good, but weren’t good for me. Choosing foods with a fuel source mentality meant I shouldn’t be concerned with taste, texture or flavor only with the nutrient components that would fuel my body.
Yes, there were leather-like protein bars, chalky shakes and bland chicken breasts.
Let me tell you, this lead to a pretty boring life food-wise. It left me feeling pretty deprived too. Thinking like this completely takes the enjoyment out of food.
Due to the fact that as a society we have the tendency to overeat, we are taught that food is not meant to be enjoyed. What an awful way of thinking.
It is this kind of thinking that has gotten us to where we are today. We’ve forgotten to enjoy anything about the food we eat. For some it has turned into a drive-thru meal because our schedules are too busy. For others it has turned into our counselor when we feel alone or stressed. We don’t taste it, we just eat it. It simply fulfills a basic need.
In addition, by loosing this connection with what we put in our mouths we end up putting in way too much. We don’t taste it or enjoy it so there is no satiety.
What I like about the philosophy above is its mention that food does not just fulfill a basic need. Food should be about enjoyment, family, health, creativity and curiosity.
It takes an effort to look at food from this perspective, but when doing so we realize food isn’t an enemy and it isn’t simply a nutrient. It can contribute to a very healthy life both physically and mentally.
So I guess my thinking on food can be a little complex. However, at the same time it is quite simply. It is what other cultures have done since their beginning.
Do you have a philosophy when it comes to health and food?
Photo by chamomile, morguefile.com
