a Ministry of Food and Family...

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Sharing Food and Offering Food... Its Brainy Positive!

Did you know that food preferences are not shaped in isolation? In saying that, all preferences are not shaped in isolation and that includes who we prefer to 'hang out' with, live with, love and eat with.

Sure, we can wage war against intolerance but whatever we or others say we tolerate is still shaped by preferences which are acquired within a social group including newly formed ones that appear  to offer a social advantage (laws of governing 'social' dynamics).

I always told my university students, to consider and look forward to the day they will eat broccoli or kale (as an example having no prejudice against either) as it will be the day they are either invited to dinner at the boss's house or future in-laws. Yes, it works like this. Sure, you can refuse but you will risk not getting what you really want.

You see, in the larger social reality, we will find ourselves doing things, eating foods that we may not like or ever thought to try. Why? Because, even though we have our preferences, we soon discover that society at large is not restrained to our personal preferences unless it sees an advantage in them and one example is 'pizza' or McDonald's. In those two cases, society at large sees vast benefits in serving up both to the masses.

However and with that in mind, we should remember that to work for food that perishes (Jn 6:27, NASB) to put everything we have into food that goes in and comes out is futile. Truly, it is the sharing of the food, offering of it that counts and coming together to do so whether around your family table or wherever you are.

Food preferences are not shaped in isolation; eating is an inherently social behavior. A meal shared with others is held in higher esteem and regarded as more of a proper meal than food consumed by oneself (Sobal et al., 2002). Infants are fully dependent upon caregivers for food provision and become conditioned to associate having their needs met with the presence of others (Hofer, 2006).

*Source ~  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3907771/

1 comment:

  1. There is nothing new under the sun... it is good to gather around the table and celebrate life!

    ReplyDelete