Have eggs instead
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011
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Mornings and I have come to an agreement: I don't like them and they don't like me. There's a comfort and warmth in the cocoon of sleep that I'm just not willing to give up when the sun rises, the dog stirs and the house begins to transition from silence to daily life.
If I'm already up, though, I'm not so insensitive as to miss the beauty of the moment: There is, after all, an amazing sense of spirit associated with watching the world around you shake off the night and get ready for the day. I delivered newspapers when I was a kid (another lost opportunity for today's kids, but that's an issue for another day) and I vividly remember how it felt to quietly slip out of the house well before sun-up.
I'd walk the dead-silent streets under the ever-so-slowly lightening sky. Sounds - mostly birds and rustling leaves - seemed sharper, and sights I'd miss seeing on my way to school suddenly snapped into sharp detail as I walked past and noticed them for the first time. As I returned to the house, I often wished I could turn the clock back and experience that quiet time on the street again. It brought me comfort.
But sleep still rules, so just about the only way I'll willingly get out of bed on a non-deadline, non-working, non-parental-obligation day is when there's the promise of food at the end of that first stumbling walk to the kitchen. And when my beloved aunt makes omelettes, sleep can wait. It's not just that it's happy food - it is - but that it's made by someone who loves gathering around the kitchen for a morning chat as much as I do, who gets that the real joys in life are often found during those quiet times when the world transitions from one state to another.
If you take the time to observe and to listen, you see and hear things more clearly. And the food always tastes better, too. Definitely a recipe for happiness.
Your turn: How is it that food can make people happy?
Initially it may make some feel happy because it fills a void.. especially if that person is sad and if the sadness is strong, nothing can rid it.. except the solution to the sadness. On the other hand a meal can bring happiness especially if its a meal that is remembered w/who that person ate it with... Its all about the circumstances- right?
ReplyDeleteI did a milk round as a kid and a paper round before that I used to love watching the world wake up around me. When I lived next to the sea, I used to get up at 6am in the summer and go and sit by it with a paper and a coffee until the tourists arrived and then go home. happy days : )
ReplyDeleteOh wow... how doesn't food make me happy. I love prepping it, cooking it, eating it, sharing it and ideas about how to prepare it with others - My favorite place to shop even happens to be the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, food brings me so much happiness, that I quit my job after being in retail for 20 years so I could take a culinary program at the local college and pursue a career as a pastry chef.
Hmmmm... I'm feeling inspired to randomly write a recipe post for some odd reason :P
I am a lover of the mornings...AND.....a happy lover of all food. Both just feel satisfying:)
ReplyDeleteFood and happiness, and the filling of a void with food... I'm much too acquainted with it all, as proven by the numbers on my scale.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, of course, about the lack of paper routes for youngsters today.
i have reached the conclusion that food makes Me happy because it hits just so many sensory targets...and usually all at once as well
ReplyDeleteI like my food to look good ( high value for me).
Now I appreciate far more the smell of my food as it approaches my mouth.
For the frst time Ever I have come to value the sound of food ( trust me, when you can't taste it then sound is a good place to start!)
The feel of food in my mouth is now massive. My taste is almost all back, but for months consideration had to be given to how food felt when I was eating it( crunchy is good slimy is bad)
Food usualy tastes great, well if not we don't eat it do we?
then there's the whole Social Experience to throw into the mix, preparing food and then eating it alone is not all it's cracked up to be. Far better to prepare and eat with others.
So yes, Food can make people happy.