Food, Eating & Gratitude

Last night my husband, youngest son and I were watching a show called ‘The Best Thing I Ever Ate, If This Was Your Last Meal” It’s a show on the Foodie cable channel, a station that seems to be on often in my house.

My youngest son, who LOVES food, and I mean, LOVES food. This young adult will try anything, cook anything and devour anything. He loves good food; Chilean Sea Bass is one of his favorites, and loves junk food; a burger the size of his head with bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onion, etc. So his last meal he was describing a montage of a little bit of everything. He went from gourmet macaroni and cheese to Chilean Sea Bass to a chili, cheese hot dog with french fries on the dog. I can just feel the indigestion. My son ended by saying, "I just love going to new restaurants and trying new food." ...gratitude.

My husband, another guy who loves his food, loves cooking, loves kitchen experiments and having people over to experiment on, and soaks up recipe books like a sponge to water. His Last Meal Menu was more like Kung Po Chicken, Orange Beef, Pot Stickers, or anything Szechuan. My husband ended by saying, "I used to love this restaurant that was in up North in Chicago, that chef offered the best Szechuan around." ...gratitude.

Now it was my turn to answer. I couldn’t think of any one meal, one dish that if I knew it were my last meal, I just had to have. They kept pushing and prodding me for an answer. Indian! No, Ethiopian! I just love going to an Ethiopian restaurant, eating with other individuals whom I’ve never met, sharing a table and plate, great conversation and eating with my fingers. Dining Ethiopian is characterized by the ritual breaking of injera and eating from the same plate, signifying the bonds of loyalty and new-found friendship.

I realize that for me, it isn’t about the actual food, it’s more about the experience. When we go out for dinner with friends or my boys, I never concern myself with where or what we eat, I leave that to someone else. I just soak up the atmosphere of great conversation, love, sharing and laughter. The next day, I am always so grateful to have had the experience. I believe that if we adopt this kind of an attitude, a continual attitude of thankfulness and gratitude, we’ll inspire others to do the same. If we practice daily gratitude we’ll automatically extend inspiration wherever we go.

And so, just another reason I started this blog. I begin and end every day of life with some expression of thankfulness. Whether when waking I offer a quick “Thank you God, for this life, for my body, for my family, friends and loved ones” or at the end of the day when blogging on my 365 Days of Gratitude blog.

Now I think I’ll go make myself some chocolate and strawberry waffles, or banana pancakes…for some reason, I’m hungry. ~Namaste