We Are What We Eat? Holy Crap...
How come no one ever says: "Hey, let's meet for some fruit juice tonight"?
It will usually be coffee, which will inadvertently lead to something in the sweets family as an accompaniment.
Why doesn't anyone say: "Oh, wow. It is great to see you again. We have got to meet up to ride bikes, soon." OR "Meet me after work and we'll take a walk around the park." OR ”I know this great track where we can run and walk our dogs."
No, that would sound completely insane to us. Instead what we say is something along the lines of:
- "Let's do lunch." OR
- "Want to grab a bite later?" OR
- "We have to have you guys over for brunch-lunch-barbecue-dinner!' OR
- "Leave room for dessert." OR
- "Yes, we're having the Communion/Graduation/Anniversary/Birthday catered."
Any time we find ourselves contemplating having guests or entertaining, the first immediate thought is to whip out the latest and greatest book of appetizers and entertaining foods. It's no wonder that we can actually have a successful cable channel specifically for food and have its cooking show hosts become these wildly popular über superstars. Hello? Rachel Ray. She has: Books - TV shows - Websites - Magazines - And a friend in Oprah Winfrey. Rach is her own mini empire wrapped up in a 5ft. 1in. little dynamo. And how did she rocket to the top? WITH FOOD! Need I say more?
Is food really entertaining? What happened to playing games or exercising in a fun way like tossing a Frisbee or kicking a ball or even chasing a kite, for chrissake? Sure, we may still do these things, but only after we are so bloated full of food that we can barely walk, or breathe and then the length of time we actually spend playing is significantly shortened because we have a hard time hauling our sorry asses too far.
With us it is all about our caloric intake. With us it comes down to what will be on our plates and how much of it we can shovel in before the social gathering is over. Is it really any wonder that everywhere else on earth we look like beached whales? Is it any wonder that we have the highest incidence of diabetes, obesity and heart disease?
Is it any wonder that the paper plates we use are at least twice the size they were when our parents were kids?
BURP... Excuse me!
I miss the days when my Dad used to have to drive around our block in Jackson Heights a million times to find a parking spot. Sure, it was hell for him, but what it meant was that my Mom could take my brother and me outside with our bikes to ride around each evening until a spot manifested itself. That was great exercise. It explains why neither he nor I were overweight kids. If we didn't get a chance to ride our bikes, they would walk us from the apartment building up 78th street to the park on the next avenue. There we would go mad with hysterics wondering what piece of playground equipment to hit first! We would run with abandon to each as if our very lives depended upon it. And after an hour or two, it would take coercing, bribery and downright threatening to get us to leave. Summers were good.
Even in winters, when we couldn't always go out to play, we managed to chase a ball around the buildings poor-excuse-for-a-yard until the tips of our fingers and toes grew so numb. We would believe my Mom when she said they'd get crisp and crack right off. Reluctantly, we would drag ourselves back inside the always overheated apartment, our cheeks ruddy and chapped, our lips dry and cracked. But we two were smiling because life was so great. And we would turn to TV cartoons as poor replacements for the fun we were having outside.
At the appointed time, our small family of four would sit down together for dinner and Mom would have the usual Spanish family fare and with that very first spoonful (yes, spoons, not forks in our house) of food, our mouths would fill with something so utterly warm, comfortable and delicious that it would fill us more than any huge amount of food ever could.
I think what was on the menu that night was called HOME.
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