The Influence of Food on Our Lives
by The influence food has on our lives is deeply ingrained, so deeply in fact, that our very existence depends on every aspect of food. The average person cannot survive more than a few days without some sort of meaningful nutrition. Having food readily available is always in our conscious and subconscious thoughts.
We are successfully exploiting food in all of its forms and all of its sources. The reason for this is that we celebrate food daily. Why we do this is because unlike breathing, which we also need to survive, a great deal of effort must be expended for food. Breathing is involuntary muscle repetition. It is the rhythmic expansion and contraction of our chests. In short, we don’t have to do much in order to breathe. But to eat, well that’s a totally different situation altogether. In order to eat we must cultivate, plant, water, raise, hunt, kill, clean, pick, harvest, prepare, cook, etc. And then there is the physical act of eating which is much more complex than breathing. The point is that the procurement of food is a victory of sorts because of the effort it requires to get it into our bodies. Food elicits a visceral response. All of your senses are effects when eating. Even the thought of food evokes a physical reaction. You don’t believe me? How about this?
A cold winter’s day finds you struggling to the door of your warm home. Amber yellow lights welcome you through frosty glass windows. You crack the door open and there it is. The smell of dinner (supper to some) is the first to greet you. A quick walk to the kitchen finds a large silver pot sitting atop the stove. A slow fire rolls its contents gently. You place your nose just to the corner of the steam. A deep inhale, and AHHH!!! Soup. You look inside the pot to see small bite size cubes of lean beef. The rich broth is also bathing thick ovals of fresh carrot, along with bright green peas, sage green lima beans, plump black eyed peas, bright yellow corn kernels, translucent strips of onion, and hearty chunks of potato. The herbs and seasonings make your mouth water. This is just what a cold body needs.
Now that makes me want some hot soup, and it’s July! And that’s just soup. Don’t get me started describing a full meal. I’ll have to install more memory in my computer. But you get the point don’t you? Food makes us react.
It is safe to say that food influences our lives by being ingrained in our lives. It sustains life. It taps directly into the pleasure center of our brains. It makes us emotional. It guides our decisions about how we live our lives. To be honest, it is the fiber that makes the fabric of our lives.
Liked it
