Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Oh my goodness I love to eat. I really love to share good food with my family and friends. As a parent I believe that eating together every evening is one of the most important things we do as a family. The mealtime is where we share our highs and lows of the day, our dreams for the future and our gratitude. And we learn how to eat good food every day, which is the foundation of our well being. Our friends gather regularly to eat together and we’ve all just naturally gotten better at cooking over the years because we do it so often.
It’s interesting that in the yoga tradition the very basis and beginnings of the practice was organized around food. The yogi’s acknowledged that we are made of food and the universe grows the food for us. Food plays such an important role so that we can all live lives full of commitment and engagement.
We have a piece of art that hangs in our living room and the artist (whose name I can’t make out) starts out talking about how there are things we do because they feel right and they may make no sense and they may make no money and (s)he ends by saying “it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other’s cooking and say it was good.” One of my cooking mentors taught me many years ago that the most important spice you add to every meal that you are cooking is love. I’ve always remembered that and have counted on it, especially when I’m making something new and wondering if it will work out. Love fixes everything!
I am very grateful at this time of year because our garden is in full swing. We (my husband is the master and I assist) are growing garlic (which feeds us all winter long), rhubarb, several kinds of lettuce, swiss chard, several kinds of kale, cucumber, spinach, onions, zuchinni, peas, tomatoes and some herbs. My husband puts a lot of love into the preparing the beds, planting, weeding and harvesting of the food. Lettuce never tastes as good as when it is freshly picked. It is so incredibly satisfying to get everything planted and then watch it grow and then eat it. Somehow the aliveness in the garden makes us/me feel more alive. And inspired. And connected to the earth. It is so quiet and peaceful in the garden. The birds might be singing, or the peepers peeping or the bugs biting, but it is simple and that simplicity is good for the heart and soul. We are all eaters of food. We are hungry and we eat many times a day. We talk about food often. Food brings such pleasure in the anticipating, making, gathering and consuming. Whether you have a garden, or some containers full of lettuce and tomatoes on your deck we can all have some fresh food in our lives. Happy growing everyone!
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