what food is

Food is there.

It is always there, like your best friend or loyal dog, ready and waiting to comfort. Food smooths out the rough edges on a tough day, food is freedom from caring and holding on so tight you think your knuckles are going to bleed. For me, for others, it is an addiction you have to control, not one you can eliminate. Food in celebration, food in defeat, food in anger, food in joy.

Food is life, and for many... death. Food can clog and choke and clot, and food can nourish, and heal and grow. Too much and you die from heart disease, too little and you die from starvation. Food is life and death.

Food is scarce in many parts of the world. Before you finish reading this a child will die from lack of  sugar, water and salt....and then another...and another....anyone in for a late night run to Taco Hell? Speaking of which, many a run I made after midnight back in my university days. Nothing like trying to swallow a 99 cent burrito after 12 beers...nothing like it. Nothing like it the next morning either, but they didn't have any all night bean sprout buffets open, ya know?

Food is a commodity, bought and sold from farm to market. The corn from farmer Browns 50 acre patch is quickly plucked and sold to Conglom-O-Mart, mixed with hydrogenated oils and sold as a healthy snack. Food is advertised, it is hawked, it is propped up on a pedestal next to super skinny bulimic super models, the three decker two cheese patty next to the cheek sunken, lingerie wearing  ectomorph, both wetting their lips and selling themselves as desire.

Food is left to the masses to monitor, the market to regulate, your impulses to control. Food kills more people than booze and car accidents and terrorists. Strike that...food doesn't kill people, people kill...Twinkies? Eat responsibly.

Food is a time killer, a lover replacer, a hole filler, a mood enhancer, a tooth driller, an effort rewarder...food is fun! Food is entertainment.

Food is in the Garden of Eden, forbidden fruit, crunchy delicious Red Delicious. Don't eat from the Tree of Knowledge...or nutritional labels. God was right, some things we just don't want to know.

Food is both deceiving and up-front, both friend and foe, food is a killer of dreams... and African babies (and Mid-Atlantic Appalachian babies too).

Food saves all. I'm hungry. What is food to you?

Comments

[geosomin]

Food is to me a friend and enemy.
I used to turn to food to drown my feelings, celebrate or make myself feel better. It made me feel comforted...the one thing I could really enjoy that was entirely for myself.
Even now that I've gotten a handle on my weight and how I deal with food, I still love to cook. I love to eat. I still celebrate with food - but now instead of regulating and being somewhat addicted to food, I try and savor it and enjoy the preparation and yumminess of it all. And now? Well, I'm healthy and full of food. And I've found a lot of healthy foods I crave now just as much as the stuff that's bad for me.

[Bloggrrl]

Farmer Brown has been replaced, I'm afraid. So sad. When I lived in Mexico, I had a healthier relationship with food. The food I ate was bought from the grower, and it tasted way better, because the soil was not depleted and it hadn't spent a week in some truck somewhere. There was little junk food to be found, and the town I lived in was historic and had a prohibition on any chain stores, including fast food.

I wish the crunchy Red Delicious tasted like something. Perhaps in Washington?

Here, I know I am disconnected from the process, and my behavior shows it. I eat compulsively, and food is as addictive as any drug, although unfortunately, lentils and broccoli are not what I crave at midnight.

[kathyj333]

I couldn't agree more. That's what food is me, an addiction. I turn to it to make me feel better. I hope you can overcome your addiction as I overcome mine.

My name is Kathy and I'm a foodaholic.

[Brandi]

Very inspiring, actually. I'm anxious to see where this takes you. And you've been right, the down-and-out are less and less down, less and less out. Perhaps you are on the road to healing just as you wanted to be, only you are riding a Schwinn instead of driving a Porsche?

[Margaret]

Good stuff here. What is food to me? That's an interesting question. Food is taste, texture and crunch. It's sweet, salty, smooth. Right now, my appetite is pretty non-existent. Nothing sounds very good to me. You'd think that would be positive, but it's actually depressing.