Prime
When meals do not seem enjoyable
A couple having breakfast. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- When the talk about food is laced by how much calories and all...
We live in societies where apparently what others say and think, especially about us, is not only important but sometimes even changes the way we see ourselves. With a few decades in my age account, I have seen it all or almost.
It seems that one’s weight is quite on top of the conversation list. With the craze on social media about different types of diets, where we are literally sinking in advertisements about how to lose weight, belly fat and other extras that are ‘hanging’ around our bodies. The worst part as a friend put it the other day, is that with the same amount of force, social media influencers are turning into chefs who cook colourful dishes that we do not even know how they taste. However, they are so tempting that encourage us to grab a pan and cook pasta.
The other day, I went with a friend to visit another friend who was sick. After exchanging greetings, the first thing she did was congratulating my friend upon her weight loss. In the same breath, she asked her to stop losing more weight. This conversation defied the logic of being there, this was not an occasion to talk about weight, especially that my friend was never overweight to start with.
A few minutes later some other visitors joined in, and as sweets were being offered, the subject of calories came up. I can assure you that as the conversation continued, every bite of that pastry went down as if I was swallowing poison. Also, it felt like the subject could not be discussed after we had eaten the sweets.
Sometime later, I had some guest who came to my house for the first time. I usually set up a colourful culinary table with different types of food. This is a habit that I have since I learnt how to cook and as it was their first visit, I thought of spoiling my guests a bit more. These were two elderly couples who seemed to be enjoying the food very much and even asked me for the recipes.
Again in the same breath, they were talking about healthy food, simple food and so on. At some point I felt tempted to tell them that they are actually free to choose only one type and eat it. Even then, there was no point discussing such matters in front of someone who had probably spent the whole day cooking.
The next day, I had a younger age group for lunch and these people were enjoying every bit of the diversified table. And instead of saying you should not have done all of this, they said “thank you for cooking for us.” Well, this helps me to plan better next time on what to or not to do.
