What’s your favorite meal of all time?
This week, I’ve been co-hosting a 5-day Prediabetes Nutrition Challenge with a favorite endocrinologist of mine. He posed that very question to our group, to which all of the responses contained a commonality:
Cherished memories.
Answer the question for yourself. Your favorite meal ever? Describe it.
Chances are that your recollection of the meal really doesn’t revolve around the food so much as it does the environment you were in and/or the people you were with.
There’s no doubt that the food played some role in your experience (fresh croissants in the French Alps or bratwurst and steins of beer in Bavaria for me), but upon deeper examination, it really wasn’t the food that made it the best meal ever. It was the people, the surroundings, the human experience, and the Life Living that made it the best ever (friends, family, biking the French Alps, a German castle, cultural experiences, giggling, fewer life worries, etc.).
Think about this as you reflect on past favorite meals. What made it special? Do you have a touch of that connection now? Obviously with our #covid19living, not all is what it was.
But perhaps there is an element to the food experience you can reincorporate somehow to find renewed joy, or to make a new favorite meal memory. Music. A change in scenery. A virtual dinner date with a loved one you haven’t seen lately.
We can embrace the power for human experience that food brings to our lives. And remember to appreciate in the beauty surrounding the nourishment that emerges.
Thanks for reading,
Dina
“Context and memory play powerful roles in all of the truly great meals in one’s life.” —Anthony Bourdain