The other day I stumbled onto an NPR article that asked the question: “How Did Our Brains Evolve to Equate Food with Love?”
I don’t know why exactly, but it struck a chord with me. I spend all day growing food and searching it out and I’d like to think I work pretty hard to make sure that my family has healthy meals on the table. But, I never really thought about WHY? I mean, I know there’s that whole we have to eat to survive thing, but would I work my arse off if I didn’t have my family?
I don’t think so. I do it because I care about them. I care that they are healthy and well taken care of–I do it because I love them. Well, there’s that, and then there is the part about idle hands…
The article talked about how we evolved to equate sharing food with creating allies, and eventually love, but it went on to ask why there is still so much emotion around food now?
Everybody has heard of emotional eating, and I’ve always associated it with over-indulgence, but I realized for the first time that food is emotional no matter who you are.
Take the holidays and pumpkin pies for example. Most people just go to Costco and buy one, but I like to bake mine from scratch because I know Monkey Boy loves them and looks forward to homemade pumpkin pies all year long. He helped his great grandmother make a pie once when he was 3 years old. And since then, he loves to help {anyone} make any sort of seasonal pie.
There are so many tastes and smells of foods that mean more to me than just surviving–food is an experience, and sharing it is can be ab awesome thing.
I came away from the article with a new, deeper appreciation for food–which I don’t think was the point of the article at all, ironically.
What do YOU think?
Is food love?
~Mavis
You Can Call Me Jane says
Hmm. I think you can love with food the wrong way- I’ve seen that first hand (with desserts, pushing second and third helpings, etc.), so I think we really need to have a good tight handle on loving others with healthy food if we’re going to equate food with love. For me, because I can love food too much, taking the emotion out of it a bit and thinking of it as fuel (having a purpose rather than it being a response to a feeling) helps me. But, if you have a healthy relationship with food and love others with it the right way, you should food-love your big heart out:-).
Mavis says
Are you saying I can’t eat 5 brownies in a row because I LOVE them? Oh I don’t think I could ever give up sugar.
madam chow says
Feeding my family healthy and tasty food is a manifestation of love.
Linda M says
I think food is something we connect with. Good and wholesome food is something we can build memories with. Like you said with your son…good experience with this great-grandmother equates to a wonderful memory. We need food to live…why not make it wonderful for the ones you love. But, you can also use it to fill lots of gaps in life…boredom, sadness, loneliness, etc. And sometimes we eat because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings who went to the trouble of fixing it. It is definitely a juggling act. But God didn’t make food as a bad thing….He made it to nourish us and for us to enjoy. I choose to “spoil”the ones I love with good, homemade or homegrown food. I hope they choose to use moderation. I love good food….sometimes I love it too much:)!
Jenn says
There is defiantly emotion in food. You can love it to much (I am guilty of this) but there is also something to say about putting your time into making a meal for your family. Sure you do it because you love them, but sitting around a table is where you share your stories and your day with your family and friends and it is over a plate of food that was cooked by someone that loves you. Some recipes are passed down for generations. So when you have a child in the kitchen and you are teaching them to cook, you are instilling your love for food in them and you can tell your family stories when you teach them those recipes. And let’s just face it, anything that you make from scratch just tastes better. As well as anything that you grow yourself tastes better as well.
Cecily says
I think we equate food with love because I believe God created the infinate varieties and flavors of foods out of love for us. He could have created a single complete source of nutrition but he wants us to have a full, interesting and happy life.
Melissa says
I love to cook, but I also show my love to my kids and husband by feeding them healthy, tasty, nutritious foods. I often wonder what I’ll do when the kids are all grown up, and I won’t need to prepare so much food. 🙂 Thankfully, that’s a long way off.
Preppy Pink Crocodile says
Oh food is absolutely emotional.
I think folks get confused with emotional eating though. When food doesn’t create an emotion. Instead food (or another drug of choice) numbs an emotion.
But food- all aspects- is most certainly emotional. It connects you with joyful or sad or silly memories. It’s so sensory and tangible. Growing it, preparing it, ordering it, eating it…it all grounds us in particular past moments.
And for most people, food can bring so much joy!
KK
Chris M. says
Good food and good company go hand in hand many times in life with family, friends and friends that are like family. We always had home cooked meals growing up and I am sure we still associate food with our mother’s love. We were always taught to clean our plate and that’s ok if you don’t go back for seconds and thirds. I have had a love/hate reltionship with food for many years. I know my body needs it, but I overindulged way too much. Fortunately I am learning to love food for its nutritonal value and not just the taste. I have used food to “satisfy” other emotions like loneliness, depression, stress, but I am working on those too.
BTW I love your blog. I grew up on a farm where we dug potatoes, pulled onions, etc fresh for dinner. Fortunately I live close enough to “home” to still enjoy that.
Stephanie says
The sharing of food is often approached by socials scientists as one of the most intimate acts – right up there with sex – as both acts transgress the boundaries of the body. So by ingesting the cooking of another, there is an inherent act of trust and intimacy (hence the popularity of the perhaps risky job of ‘food taster’ in royal courts, to detect poison and to serve as a buffer between the eater and unknown preparers of the meal). When faced with anonymous industrial alternatives and solo-options, home-cooking and communal eating brings this intimacy back to the table. Therefore is no big leap to conclude that preparing foods for others is a labor of love, or at least, of good intention. Lots of evidence of this in the ethnographic literature.
Helen Neher says
I was raised to feed anyone who came to visit. When the doorbell rings, my first thought is what do I have to serve someone. Sat. I bought 4 boxes of Girl Scout cookies from 2 different troops. They are still in the box, only because they are still out in the car. Once the neighbor and son arrived for a chat. I thought what do I have. I remembered the chilling bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough. I produced the bowl and clean spoons… and they said “oooh, you’ll get worms.” WHAT? Raw chocolate chip cookie dough is sacred if it is homemade.