Statement+on+Food

__** My Stance on Food, the Consumption of It, and the Industry Involved Around It **__

In our modern American society, the role of food has changed considerably from what it was even 50 years ago. Then, food wasn't as heavily processed, and the eating of food was a lot of the time involved in a social gathering of some sort, usually the family unit. My idea of a family eating food 50 years ago is this: the children would tell their parents about their day while eating a plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes Mom cooked, and the parents would listen. Dad would be reading a newspaper. Of course, I only know this from old sitcoms and humorous depictions of the 1950's. Back then, food played a pivotal role in society because the family structure was so important in society; in a way, eating food was almost like a family reunion 3 times a day.

Nowadays, the family structure is falling apart, with statistics that state that 84% of all single parents are women (34% of which were never married). And yet, food still plays a role in our modern society similar to that of the role it played 50 years ago, in a society where the nuclear family was the norm. A large portion of this role we don't normally recognize. Why do we feel the need to sit with our friends at lunch? Or in front of the TV or computer? People are inclined to want to not be alone while they eat. Maybe it's an instinct adopted thousands of years ago, eating in packs, as eating would make one more vulnerable to danger. Maybe we eat with each other to bond with one another. This isn't exclusive to the human race, either. Just about every single species on Earth eats in groups at one point or another, whether it be sharing one food source amongst several or several congregating to consume their own personal sources.

Food is a way of communicating with others of the same species in a way that can't be tangibly expressed. Food itself, for the most part, gives us comfort when we eat it, just as being around others comforts us (again, for the most part). In a way, the whole modern concept of cooking and preparing food is a (very distant) form of love, almost. A chef prepares for the president and several guests a lavish ham-centered dinner; a single woman living alone buys a frozen TV dinner for herself. They are two completely different scenarios it seems, but both involve one party caring for the well-being of another party. In the president's case, the chef is taking care of his party; in the woman's case, it is a more distant care but it can be argued it is the huge corporations making millions of dollars in profits caring for her.

That's why, even though the concept of the nuclear family in America no applies, food is still as much of a deal in society as it was 50, 100, 200, 1000 years ago, and we haven't replaced food with easy substance pills. No one would want to take pills together, that's silly. Food is the means of expressing love in non-tangible ways, to people that you wouldn't consciously think you love. I, for one, am glad we still eat food with other people, because I hate sitting alone at lunch.