Food For Thought

I have followers, it seems! Does that make me a cult?

Photograph by Darkened~Flame

"With food, everything can be resolved."

That's my dads motto, and a statement he swears by. It's biblical, he says.

Depressed? Have a snack.
Getting divorced? Cook your husband a homemade meal.
Arguing with family members? Invite them over for dinner.

Of course, he says this to be humorous (I think. I can never tell with my dad), but perhaps there's some truth to it. Everything happens at the dinner table. It's where we convene to share our day, our thoughts, before we rush off again into the mad, mad world.

Since I was a little child, some of my earliest memories have been of people coming over for dinner. It seems that my family often has these dinner parties and I'm not quite sure if it's a culture thing or a family thing. I don't believe I've ever heard any of my friends say that they're having guests over for dinner (at least on a regular basis).

It's stressful at times. My mom, the ultimate clean freak, sets us all scrubbing the ceilings and mopping the walls and mowing the lawn. And then, there's the cooking, which is of course the most important part. My mom is such a good cook, she should have been a gourmet chef. Yes, I am that spoiled. Every lunch or dinner is a masterpiece. We're so used to being fed well that I'm suprised we're not all quite round and chubby.

And once the food is prepared, we hurry to shower and put on our best clothes and all that jazz until the doorbell rings. A few wine glasses and a good conversation later, we begin the meal. And over that meal, we laugh, we cry, we tell stories, we share our worlds. And it's peaceful. My dad says all the problems of the world could be solved if we just gathered around a good meal.

I've got to go help my mom bake cookies now.