There's nothing like a home-cooked meal, especially at a family occasion. For years growing up going to my grandparent's house and sitting down with all of my family, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, and anybody else under the umbrella we called family to enjoy a dinner whether it was for a good reason or not. It's always a good time when we come together and even better when grandma is doing the cooking! Michael Pollan said it perfectly:
"We forget that, historically, people have eaten for a great many reasons other than biological necessity. Food is also about pleasure, about community, about family and spirituality, about our relationship to the natural world, and about expressing our identity" (Pollan 8).
As soon as I read that I could remember all of the good (and bad) times I've had and spent over food, and trust me there is a lot of them! Food is about much more than the biological necessity for nutrients, it really completely indulging and immersing your-self into a meal and the people around you while you make those memories.
American science journalist and author Michael Pol...
Michael Pollan speaks to the Marin Academy communi...
Pollan speaking at TED 2007.This isn't limited to just family though, entire communities can come together for the same cause and I've seen it in action!
My parents came from Jerusalem where they grew up and when we visit it's really awesome having so much family so close to each other. It's nothing like here in the United States where most of the times you don't even know the people next door. Over there, everybody knows everybody, their families have been there for generations and when somebody gets married or comes back from college everybody will get together for a huge feast. And when I say feast, I mean 30+ people sitting on rows and rows of tables with all the home-cooked meals...