Food for thought : Blog # 113

Food for thought

      I was lazing away on the couch after a sumptuous lunch at home. It was one of those moments when you are watching some good movie on the TV and an afternoon siesta plays around over your eye lids. Breaking the lazy surrealism about it, my cell phone started ringing. It was a dear friend who called up to check if I am free as he was in town. Reluctantly shaking away the laziness of my impending siesta, I set out to meet him.

            We met at a fast food joint. He had some fond memories of that place from his school days and even I had a handful of happy moments from there. While we indulged in some hearty trivial small talks, he ordered a burger. The burger came and the way he enjoyed the burger was a sight to behold. The candor and passion with which he enjoyed that burger was so endearing. He said he was trying to recollect the taste from his school days. I think he was searching for those fond memories.

            There is something about people who are passionate about food. I somehow connect it to sincerity because some of us get unnecessarily pretentious when it comes to food. Be it the way people eat or the preference for certain food, there are some un- wanted pretensions. So if someone likes a food item that is not very fashionable and is candid enough to admit and exhibit it in the way one eats, there is some earnestness somewhere.  

            Food has a direct relation to the closeness that people share. If you have paid attention, we demand food only at those places where we are very comfortable. It takes us immense effort to ask for food at a place which is not our own or a house that we are not familiar with.

            Food preferences might be the earliest manifestations of one’s persona. Little toddlers react to certain food favorably or unfavorably -and they carry that preference throughout their lives. Many other likes may turn in to dislikes and vice-versa in one’s growing up years but for food.

            There is a lot of emotion attached to food. One of the first things that we miss while we stay away from home is the homely food. Same is the case with memories. Who doesn't remember the small road side shop from college days which served amazing tea and snacks?

            Of all the Man’s Greeds, food is one thing which one cannot be greedy about. One has to refuse when one is full. One doesn't ask for more neither does one wish for more food beyond one's need. May be the reason is that food fills up not just the gut but the heart too.

                                                                                                   Arun Babu