“We eat because we wanna have a good time. Really, that’s all a vacation is; just us eating in a place we’ve never been. ‘Well, why don’t we eat something, then we’ll go and get something to eat? Then we’ll see that thing we’re supposed to see – they probably got a snack bar there, right? After that, we should probably get something to eat though…..then we’ll eat something.”
That’s comedian Jim Gaffigan pretty much summing up the relationship between us human beings and food. It truly is a love affair that never ends.
We eat because yes, we want to have a good time when we may be on vacation or elsewhere, but we also eat because it’s so engrained in our daily lives and culture. We eat so we can basically live, but we take it so much farther than that. We may be the ones who are putting it in and taking it out of the oven, or cooking it on the stove, or zapping it in the microwave, but in a lot of ways, food has been controlling *us* for generations.
Think about it. Modern society has basically operated on the notion that “WE MUST EAT THIS AND ONLY THIS” whenever a particular holiday arrives or because certain food types are seasonal.
Easter usually means baked ham and scalloped potatoes.
Thanksgiving means a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
The same menu typically goes for Christmas.
Cold winter nights mean hot soups, stews and chowders for supper. Hot summer days mean throwing some burgers, hot dogs or steaks on the grill.
You ever try and propose New England clam chowder for a Thanksgiving meal, or maybe a nice medium-rare rib eye at Easter? A guy might just end getting blackballed from one’s own family for going against that particular grain.
Food is such an integral part of our lives. It brings family together during holidays, it brings friends together who may not see each other that often, and it serves as the glue for fusing together relationships of all kinds.
‘Hey, can I take you to dinner sometime?’ ‘Great, let’s take a meeting over lunch!’ ‘How about a potluck over at your house some night?’ ‘Let’s plan Christmas dinner over a meal somewhere sometime!’
See what I mean? Food really *is* the glue of our modern day Western society.
I suppose one could make the case that you don’t need to eat food when you’re out with someone trying to forge a relationship, whether personal or professional, but c’mon, we’re Canadians; if we’re grabbing a coffee at Tim Horton’s, you can bet your double-double that some donuts are going to get consumed, or maybe even a sandwich. Don’t try to bog me down with semantics; it’s food, and we all know the power it wields over us.
It goes without saying that I’m a fan of food (hardy har-har), but in the last decade or so, since becoming what we’re told is the definition of becoming an adult, I’ve really tried to study food and broaden my culinary skills. The art of cooking for oneself or for an entire family from scratch is going the way of the dinosaurs as we’re bombarded with easy-to-heat meals and fast food campaigns.
Why cook a homemade pasta dish full of flavour when you can throw something from a box into the microwave? Why season your own meat and cook it to perfection when you can grab a bag of McDonald’s or A&W?
Well, because scratch-made food just tastes better.
The best meal I ever ate may have been when I was out in Victoria in August of last year. It was at a harbour-front restaurant that was only about two doors down from my hotel. I had a medium-rare New York steak, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, a lobster tail, and served with crispy onions, broccoli and grilled mushrooms. It was truly a “spoil yourself” kind of meal, topped off with a dessert I’ve come to love but can’t seem to find anywhere around these parts – sticky toffee pudding. To say I enjoyed it would be like saying ‘The Godfather’ is merely an okay film.
Food is amazing in all the right ways. We look forward to everything about it; selecting it off menus, preparing it on grills, all the way to sitting down to enjoy it. It may control us, but it’s a control that we gladly accept every day.
Seeing how it’s the holiday season, I’m sure people are already talking turkey and all the trimmings, planning your own meals and all that fun stuff.
I still say New England clam chowder is a fine Christmas culinary option.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
