Good food, like deep sleep and unpolluted air, is one of life’s great pleasures. Yet many of us have such an ambivalent relationship with it.
‘There is nothing more delicious than hot buttered toast,’ my mother once said. Experimenting with what we’d put on top was even better: mashed banana with cinnamon sugar; peanut butter with tomato; home-made apple jam. As children, we would toast slice after slice.
I quickly ditched the desire to be super skinny in my adolescent years, simply to fit into my denims or mini skirt. I could not get past an afternoon of the Beverley Hills Diet – the appeal of more pineapple or watermelon faded completely with a dinner aroma of roast beef fillet, crisp potatoes and greens.
Move forward to our lives in 2023 and diets still abound: Paleo, Mediterranean, CSIRO, 5:2, Detox. Prepared meals, liquid meal replacements. Organisations like Noom and Juniper promise to see us through to goal achievement. All to be ignored as far as I’m concerned. Food sharing and enjoyment is far too satisfying. A starved body threatened with extinction will eat ravenously when the survival mechanism kicks in.
There is still so much emphasis on body shape today. It was the same sixty years ago. What are we not learning? Okay, we can blame celebrity pressure, social media to fit the mould, but let’s get a grip on what really matters in our lives.
When I was seventeen, a fitness instructor advised me: ‘Try to eat only when you are hungry… forget about what or how much. Train yourself to eat with focus until you are satisfied.’ I generally find this works, and if I eat past satiety at times because something is too delicious, so what?
We have more nutritional knowledge and food choices than ever: abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, a range of dairy/non-dairy, numerous grains, nuts and seeds, proteins and pulses, gluten free. We also have diversity of home delivery and eating out: Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, African, South American, Japanese, Italian, French and good old pub bistro meals. We have cookbooks filling our shelves, and countless TV, YouTube, live streaming food preparation programs.
These all may add to performance pressure by producing dishes to perfection. I have always been a nervous host as I strive for faultless array at the table. I am learning from my friends: the fun part is trying new combinations, tastes, and in sharing. A friend’s husband regularly participates in the kitchen. He feels no pressure or competition. I remember him once having a go at making papadums. They crinkled and curled all over the place, making them even more fun to dip. Men taking part in the kitchen is no longer rare, to the delight of most women.
Good food is social, nurturing, comforting, makes us zing when we pack our bodies with nutritious greens, reds, oranges and purples. The odd bland colour of stodge is part of the joy too. Nothing better than a custard tart warm from the oven.
Burnside Writers Group 