Twice in the last few days I have posted a photograph of my breakfast on facebook. (I know, get a life, right?) It has occurred to me that it is important to not only eat food that is good for me, but also looks good. I tend to have a love/hate relationship with food, vacillating between viewing eating as a tedious necessity and a overly tempting diversion. Food is always more than food, even to people who do not struggle with weight issues. For someone who tends toward the simple in most things, preparing food is not high on my list of favorite activities. I am inclined to grab what is convenient, requires little preparation (because it is the cleaning up I loathe) and tastes good--which of course is very subjective.
Because I am very much a "visual" person, food has to look good to me, and my best meals are ones that have a variety of color, texture and a visual richness, though creating such sensuous delights is a challenge for me. I am still awaiting the day when all our nutrients for daily living could be available in one convenient pill (remember the futurists of the 60's predicted this!) Despite the proliferation of nutritional supplements, science still hasn't produced such a thing. The genius lady who has a column in Parade magazine was once asked if there was one perfect food for humans. Her reply: dog food, as it is appropriate for an omnivore mammal, which is what we are. Though we hear stories of poor people eating dog food (I've never actually known anyone to do this) I seriously doubt that anyone could consistently eat it--even dogs aren't particularly fond of doing that, I suppose.
Photographing my food, however weird that may seem, has actually helped me become aware of what exactly I am eating, and also reinforces to me that most of the time, I eat rather healthfully. Awareness for me is really the crux of what this blog is all about. It is an amazing thing to think that there is enough variety in the world that a person might conceivably never eat the same thing twice--at least not the same thing prepared the same way. And while variety may be the spice of life, it is also true that we tend to eat our favorites over and over again (for better or worse.) I read in the paper today about a man who just ate his 25,000th Big Mac. I wonder if there is any food that I have eaten that many times!
I can think of any number of foods that look disgusting to me and I won't eat--mushrooms and oysters come to mind. The foods I like most; however, are those that are colorful and photogenic--fruits! There is a reason why so many still life paintings are of fruit--they are a delight for the senses. Photographing my meals has also made me appreciate the gift that food is--not just as means to sustain biological life, but as a means of sustaining spiritual life as well. Gratitude to the One who created and sustains all life should be part of every act of consuming food, or why else do we say grace?
A certain mindfulness should accompany each food preparation and eating opportunity. Indeed it is when we mindlessly consume something that we are often unaware of the amount, the flavor, and exactly why we are doing so. Literally focusing on food through the lens of a camera creates an opportunity to become aware, and awareness begets mindfulness, and mindfulness will lead to balance in all things, not just eating.
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