On Wednesday our class made homemade bread. As we were all trying to move around each
other in the kitchen and to make sure that everyone got a chance to be included
in the whole process of preparation it got me thinking about how cooking and
baking can be such a bonding experience.
It made me think of all the holiday goodies that are made. In my family we do Christmas cookie baking
days that have grown to include family members and close friends. One of the greatest things about baking
together is that it helps to strengthen relationships. In my own family it has brought my cousins
and my siblings closer together after some family strife, thus we make sure to
keep up the tradition of cookie baking.
In our class today we talked about food being a commodity in
our society, the only real value placed on food is that of monetary value. From what we talked about in class it seems
that one way in which we devalue food is through buying premade meals at restaurants
and in the grocery store. Therefore we
have no time and no care invested into what we are putting in our bodies. I think that this devalues our food, making
it more something that just eaten than something that has meaning to the
individual. I think that by putting in
more effort to make one’s own food there is then more meaning to that
food. There is a sense of pride when
someone tells you that the meal was delicious! It allows one to know that the
food was valued by you and by others, which can strengthen the relationship one
has with the people that they cooked for.
In a movie that we watched, it talked about how some women
were able to survive and remain somewhat mentally intact during the Holocaust
by sharing recipes. This is important
because it shows that food is the center of relationships between families,
events and friendships. Cooking allows
for the sharing of something special from the food recipe itself to the sharing
of special events. Thinking about these
things has allowed me to fully realize that there is more of a connection to
food than people think about.
I completely agree that food is greatly connected to the process of forming relationships between people and can help strengthen the bonds between family members. However, I think going out to eat with friends or family can have the same quality as cooking together. Tonight I enjoyed a delicious meal at Tapatios with some friends. I do not think I would have been able to prepare mexican food to taste as good as it did. I still felt the same type of connection and special bonding with my friends over one of our favorite types of cuisine even though we did not prepare it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems there are some foods that just never taste as good when you make them yourself, though I would probably feel differently if I were of Mexican heritage and therefore grew up knowing how to make that kind of food.
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