Eating and Nourishment

I am a pretty good cook. No, I’m a damn fine cook. I LOVE to cook, trying new recipes, making up dishes out of thin air. My whole family is full of good cooks. I just told you last week about Brian’s magic scalloped potatoes. And my brother made some seriously good fake jambalaya last night in his first foray into crock-pot cooking. Even my dad had a few “specialties” which often involved ground beef, pasta, or both.

I even like grocery shopping, if I go by myself and can ponder ingredients and figure out how to cook something new/interesting/familiar/fattening/healthy/whatever. My jeans size tells me quite clearly that I have no trouble procuring and eating food.

But I was reminded today by a wonderful friend that eating and being nourished are not always one and the same. The lunch I had with her today was yummy (potato frittata – I have to figure out how they got the potato to be enveloped by the eggs. And what kind of cheese was on it) but the conversation was nourishing. And far-ranging. You try covering shamanism to market research in less than 90 minutes. We’re just that good.

I was gifted with family dinners growing up. Conversation was just as important as the food being served. Which helps explain why I’m so adamant (obsessed?) that Abby learn good table manners and we sit to eat together. I don’t think there’s been a dinner in her life where she ate at one time and her parents ate at another. I figure we’re nourishing her mind and her soul when we share a meal. And so it’s something I’m committed to, this family dinner. It may be old-fashioned but it suits us pretty well.

Dessert is another story altogether. It nourishes both the body AND the soul.