My "365 Days of Writing Prompts" booklet had a great question the other day:
If you could get all the nutrition you needed in a day with a pill - no worrying about what to eat, no food preparation - would you do it?
This one is really a no-brainer for me. Much as I might love the time-saving of not having to meal plan, grocery shop, cook, chew and clean up - I can't imagine not being able to savour a meal. I love food - it's one of the few daily pleasures we have in life. When food is well-prepared - the flavours work together, the temperature is right, the texture is pleasing - it's an experience as well as a nourishment. I spend a lot of time meal planning so that I can optimize the experience of eating. Besides - if we didn't eat, what would we do on our holidays?! A lot of our vacation time revolves around food.
I can't imagine anyone wanting to skip eating and just take a pill but there are those people out there. My friend Deb has often said that if she could get her nutrition from a pill, she'd definitely consider it. Whereas my day doesn't feel complete if I haven't had a decent dinner, she'll often have popcorn or chips. For lunch it's not unusual to see her with a sad meal of warm cheese and stale crackers, poor thing. I guess at that point there isn't much difference enjoyment-wise between food and a pill!
When my Uncle Ray was still alive, he went through a bout where he had no sense of smell. He'd had a bad virus and for a long time (years) his sense of smell was completely gone. Of course, smell is tied to our ability to taste so he lost interest in food. His weight went down and he had to make a real effort to eat. Most of it just tasted like nothing to him - unless it was very spicy, and then he could kind of taste it. A pill would have been just the thing for him. It must have been so frustrating to have to spend time grocery shopping and preparing food when he was so indifferent to it.
So there it is. I am a proud foodie. I would cheerfully spend my time cooking and eating because as far as I'm concerned, that's one of the ways to savour life.
If you could get all the nutrition you needed in a day with a pill - no worrying about what to eat, no food preparation - would you do it?
This one is really a no-brainer for me. Much as I might love the time-saving of not having to meal plan, grocery shop, cook, chew and clean up - I can't imagine not being able to savour a meal. I love food - it's one of the few daily pleasures we have in life. When food is well-prepared - the flavours work together, the temperature is right, the texture is pleasing - it's an experience as well as a nourishment. I spend a lot of time meal planning so that I can optimize the experience of eating. Besides - if we didn't eat, what would we do on our holidays?! A lot of our vacation time revolves around food.
I can't imagine anyone wanting to skip eating and just take a pill but there are those people out there. My friend Deb has often said that if she could get her nutrition from a pill, she'd definitely consider it. Whereas my day doesn't feel complete if I haven't had a decent dinner, she'll often have popcorn or chips. For lunch it's not unusual to see her with a sad meal of warm cheese and stale crackers, poor thing. I guess at that point there isn't much difference enjoyment-wise between food and a pill!
When my Uncle Ray was still alive, he went through a bout where he had no sense of smell. He'd had a bad virus and for a long time (years) his sense of smell was completely gone. Of course, smell is tied to our ability to taste so he lost interest in food. His weight went down and he had to make a real effort to eat. Most of it just tasted like nothing to him - unless it was very spicy, and then he could kind of taste it. A pill would have been just the thing for him. It must have been so frustrating to have to spend time grocery shopping and preparing food when he was so indifferent to it.
So there it is. I am a proud foodie. I would cheerfully spend my time cooking and eating because as far as I'm concerned, that's one of the ways to savour life.