“Eat well, don’t worry so much and enjoy life” were my grandmother’s last words while serving me a warm bowl of dal chawal. At our home, food is treated as a way to communicate with one another. It is one of the few things that bring us together. It is a part of what makes us human. Food, security and love are needs so intertwined that we cannot talk about one without having the other. One of my favourite authors Virginia Woolf once said, “One cannot think well, love well and sleep well if one has not dined well”. We have all heard and told many stories while sharing food with our friends and families.
Eating together forms a crucial shared experience for all of us. From sitting down together as a family to eat dinner at the end of the day to grab a quick lunch with a friend, sharing food serves as a common way to bond with each other.
The art of eating and dining has been emphasized and redefined. You see pottery edgings of ancient greek men reclining on one side to eat drink and philosophize at a symposium. It shows that when eating not only is food shared but also ideas and stories. As social animals, it is just as essential for us to nourish ourselves through communicating new ideas and stories as it is to keep our bellies full sharing food and stories is an intimate act and it’s why I chose food to be the medium to tell my stories.
My grandmother soon expired but she taught me an important life lesson.
