Food and Eating

Like I can add anything meaningful in the discussion about food and eating. Have you seen the size of cooking sections in bookstores? They're probably one of the largest single book section. It's almost unreal, and with a food channel on the cable networks, it's a real, "Whew." And I'm one of those people who eats to live than lives to eat.

And cooking? Let's just say I use the 5 minute rule. If I can fix, prepare, or cook it in five minutes, it won't get done. That means that's the limit of my concentration in front of the stove or kitchen counter. My most common eats are sandwiches, chips and orange juice. The rest is pot pies over mashed potatoes or some egg-type dishes. There's a good reason for this and it's the point of this column.

Which is? Ok, long story shortened to one paragraph. Twenty-plus years ago I had the seasonal flu which destroyed the organics stuff your intestinal tract needs to digest food. Not fun. And over the years since I've slowly lost the ability to digest a variety of foods, including meats, pastas, vegetables, and so on down the list, including spices. This accelerated starting about 5 years ago and to the point this year I could write the foods I could eat on a 4x6 postit note.

So much for shopping. Anyway, doing some experimentation I discovered the recent problems were related to a health metabolism supplement produced for GNC. Discontinuing it is slowly reclaiming some of the foods I can eat, and so I'm back to where I was years ago, going back through the list of foods to find what works and what doesn't. The list is slowly growing and not terribly fast, but enough to have real meals again.

And this is my point. You should cherish you ability to choose foods you like, want to prepare, and then eat. Food and eating. It's a gift, easily taken away, so find the time to cherish life with food. Remember many people don't have enough to eat around the world, many people don't have the ability to choose the foods they have to eat even if it is enough, and many people, like me and some worse, don't have the privilege you have.

So give thanks when you go to the market to buy food, walking around seeing and thinking, "What do I want to eat tonight?" You have a freedom few have in the world. Food keeps us alive. Choice is a privilege. Cherish it.