Food (Gabrielle)
“Food should made with love and lots of butter.” -A Swedish saying I think I just mutilated. Yesterday was Thanksgiving. My brother Jonathan came over and we all stood in the kitchen getting in each other’s way as we worked together to make Thanksgiving dinner. We probably spent more time in the kitchen cooking the food than we did around the table eating it. There was a lot of food to make and it was fun. At times everyone would be busy doing something and at other times my brothers and I stood and watched Crystal work. The food was all delicious and the meal was enjoyed by all. Earlier this week Crystal told us about a deal she saw at the store. If you placed an order ahead of time you could go to the store on Thanksgiving morning and pick up a Thanksgiving kit. There would be a small turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes, the whole nine yards. Everything was cooked and ready to go. You just had to take this kit home and set the table. This troubled me. I was already thinking things like “Is this how far we’ve gone?” before I could put words to what was bothering me. Seth was the one who found the words. He said, “Especially at a special meal like Thanksgiving, food is love.” Food is love. Even at ordinary meals the quality of the food sets the tone of the meal. I am not saying that every meal has to be gourmet quality, but even if the food is simple if it is made with love the meal is more wholesome. Mass produced food is soulless. You go to a busy restaurant and maybe the food is really tasty, but you know that the people there don’t really care about you. You go to a small, family restaurant where the recipes were handed down from somebody’s grandmother and the tone of the meal is different, but still doesn’t compare to the food cooked up in your kitchen by someone who loves you. We recently had one of those days where, around four o’clock, we suddenly realized that all the food we had in the house either needed to cook for hours or needed to be defrosted. So we made mashed potatoes and a vegetable and then picked up some cooked chicken from a store. I ate the chicken and enjoyed it, but I found myself wishing that Crystal had been able to make dinner. The people who made the chicken didn’t care one way or the other if we ate it or not. Crystal crafts meals for her family and she puts all of her love into them. The meal is more enjoyable because the food was made with love. So it was Thanksgiving and we spent most of the day cooking. It was fun. And when we sat down to eat the food was excellent. I knew it was made with love and lots of butter.