This week’s TueSpot asks our fans to share a recipe from their culture, heritage or location. It stems from our vast amount of fans that come from all over the world and across the USA. So my plan tonight was to also blog about a recipe and how it connects to where I am. I am still going to do that, but I am also going to talk about food as it relates to me in two specific ways: as fuel and as comfort.
I have recently started coaching a soccer team, and tonight I am exhausted. In addition, I have a sore throat thanks to some crazy weather this week. So tonight when I got home from practice I knew exactly what I needed: fuel and comfort. The meal I made was classic, chicken noodle soup and melted cheese on a hamburger bun. (Okay, grilled cheese would be more common.) While I considered this meal to be a prime example of my culture’s food, I also thought about my relationship to what I was eating.
Relationship 1: Fuel
Dinner tonight gave me calories, protein and other nutrients to keep my body moving. My body requires fuel for my everyday functioning, not to mention exercise.
Relationship 2: Comfort
Hot soup felt so good on my sore throat and the meal in total reminded me of being taken care of as a child. In this case, food functioned to protect and heal.
What about people who have very limited access to food? Their bodies also require food to function and their lives and health also require food to protect and heal. Plus, everyone needs comfort from time to time. Tonight’s meal made me think about the different functions of food. Those functions made me consider what I would feel like if I could not refuel and if I could not receive comfort. I would be a mess. Right now, over one billion people are undernourished and they need fuel and comfort just as much, if not more, than I do.
What functions does food serve for you? How would you feel if food was not available to you?
~Lana
