Who doesn’t think of food?
No one, that’s who. Nothing alive stays alive if it lacks the concern for its sustenance.
Humans are weird, though. We have an excess of food in this most bountiful time in history, enough to waste and spend lives towards merely the experience of it. We like to put meaning into things too. We are social creatures that seek bonding even while feeding.
This got me on the meta-thinking of what is food to us? Come with me as I drive recklessly (using a lot of car metaphors) to explore the four values of food.
Fuel
Like a high performance car, the human bio-machine runs better on energy derived from higher quality fuel.
But the car won’t run and the body does not care for the quality if there is a lack of a sufficient quantity.
No living thing exists without seeking a bare minimum of fuel. People – surrounded by a glut of pure energy, but most of low quality – at this time have the opportunity and sometimes the drive to optimize the fuel we consume.
Form
The look and feel and vibe of a car speaks to the overall experience of interacting with the vehicle. Humans do this with a bunch of stuff – art, sports, clothes, food.
Plating, presentation, smell, texture, temperature, taste, and even the history of the dish feeds into the form people seek. Ultimately pure pleasure, the form of food – like cars – make it pleasing to witness and partake in.
Faith
Like a car brand, faith that a certain food or method of making food or eating food is valuable to billions across the planet.
Sometimes faith pairs with the value of fuel – this particular eat may not save a soul, but it could save and enlighten the body, fulfill the morals of the mind or all humankind.
So like the faith a particular car or fuel is right (at least right for the person considering it), opinions on food become a matter of faith to most who seek to study themselves or the matter of food.
Fellowship
Lastly, cars bring people together. Whether merely being a car owner (a virtual necessity in most of the United States) or being really into cars (whatever flavor that takes), cars bond people in fellowship for a shared element of being alive.
A similar kinship exists for food. We all need to eat. The communal meal (communion) is common in every human culture in every point of history, along with multiple non-human species.
Food provides an excuse to socialize with little fear of rejection (unless someone is ready to die on a different hill / value). Working while eating is often considered rude, so bringing focus to companions is encouraged. The resources to make food are often concentrated (ingredients, storage, tools, place kept clean specifically to dine), forcing people together (if not just for the warmth of the hearth!). Food is pleasurable, thus aiding the benefits of bonding in the Mere Exposure Effect.
Just as when someone does not drive, has not driven, and does not own a car, society asks, “what is the matter with you?” The same goes for food and eating together – to ask to eat together is a bid of fellowship that ought not lightly be discarded.
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Fuel, Form, Faith, and Fellowship.
I tried really hard to find more – being stuck on Fuel, Form, and Fellowship, the intimacy of Faith was the only one that arose after weeks. That said, if you understand what values a person holds about food, you will know how to meet them on that level. (Think of it as similar to languages of affection – touch, time, words, service, and gifts.)
What do you value food as? I am a stalwart Fuel and becoming also a Fellowship kind-of-guy, with Form being my biggest “meh.”
Let me know! Cheers to all the food shared between you and yours ~
Jimmy Chattin 