Food - Keeping body & soul together.

One of the things that happens when you suddenly become single after years of being part of a couple is that your relationship with food changes. I have always cooked from good fresh ingredients & mealtimes were when we came together & talked - about all sorts of things from the mundane to the philosophical. Mealtimes were looked forward to, sharing food with someone you like being with is one of life's simple pleasures.

Suddenly mealtimes simply punctuate the day. Even if you do continue cooking from scratch, and I do, you don't linger over your food. In fact sometimes you barely notice what you eat because you are reading a book, doing a crossword or watching TV news. Sometimes you can't be bothered to go to all that effort just for yourself, so simply have something on toast or a sandwich to stave off hunger.

Occasionally I'll have a bought supermarket meal because I foolishly think it might be a treat. It never is. I've never had a frozen or cook chill meal that compared to anything home cooked. I don't know how people live on them permanently. Presumably they haven't ever tasted good food.

I sometimes think that I should lay the table properly, concentrate on enjoying the food & a glass of wine with a CD playing in the background. But eating alone is a very solitary thing - obviously, and to me the whole point of food is to share it & make the meal more than just keeping the body going like putting petrol in the car. It's important to taste the food, savour it, notice the flavours & textures in the mouth.

Whether it's family or friends, sitting around a table enjoying good food & conversation is something to be treasured. You don't realise how good it is until you lose it. So I am sad when I read that few families do that today. People eat different things, in different places & at different times. Often people eat "on the hoof" or at their computer screens. It's summed up in the phrase "grab a bite to eat".  Everything is wrong with that statement & attitude.

If the plethora of TV Chefs & their money making books could achieve anything at all it should be to get us all back round a table with a good, home cooked meal eating and enjoying food together. If they can't do that they are just a highly paid,  egotistical, waste of space.