YOUR APPETITE FOR SELF LOVE
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YOUR APPETITE FOR SELF-LOVE - ENJOY SECOND HELPINGS
Fast food drive-throughs. Ordering in. Food on the run. If you’re a single person, divorced person or married with kids and no-time-to-deal with cooking, person, chances are, this is familiar territory once traveled. Nothing comforts like food. And if you’re human, at one time or another during heartbreak or stress-relief, food has been a literal staple in your diet for healing the spirit and becoming that great date or best friend.
But food has also been known to romance and woo the heart over candlelight and if all goes well, lead toward being incorporated onto the menu in satisfying the appetite for eroticism in the bedroom. And if you’re single, this thought is torturous if you’re a hopeless romantic waiting for that ‘special someone.’ If you’re with someone special, committed and married, the romance of food can keep your relationship alive with special moments.
Food has always been romantic to me... even if I’m dining alone. When I was single, I made this commitment to myself that I would indulge in a romantic candlelit food-fest of pleasure at a fine dining restaurant on a regular basis - appetizer through to dessert, wine and the works. And I would do this alone, without a book, absorbing my ambiance and appreciating my surroundings. I would do this on a Friday night while being surrounded by bonded tables of two or more as a means of still celebrating who I am and what I believe to be a passion of mine that’s strong enough to overcome any awkward, insecure instances. Ultimately, this is the greatest act of self-love.
Now that I am married, on nights where hubby is working late or I am on a tight deadline and dining alone, I still make this commitment to myself, to do this, but now it is both at home, making a special dinner for myself, just as much as when I am out.
It is with this discovery, I found love in a new form and realized it was a path to love itself. And when you do get to share this special path with friends, family or a romantic partner, no one can deny food is powerful. Something magical happens when people talk about food. Ever notice when you’re at a party, people cling to the food and drink until they feel comfortable circulating? Or during holidays all people hang out and gather in the kitchen? But why is it no one ever initiates the food conversation in a real and meaningful context?
I decided to experiment with this one. It inspired a number of conversations with friends about food, one’s passion for food and surprisingly the uninhibited, extremely raw discussion about one’s sensuality with food’s pleasurable palate and palette of indulgences.
As a single person this discussion may be enough to send you orbiting into euphoria or into the freezer section in a sinful trois with Ben & Jerry. As a married person, you may find it inspiration to do something new with chicken for the 100th time. LOL
But this discovery opened my eyes to how we can explore various sides of our feelings about love with ourselves and the relationships in our lives.
Much like the carbon-copied movie scenes from “The Big Chill” where friends gather in the kitchen and cook together, food has the amazing ability to create a recipe for love. This love I speak of is the love of life and celebration... an appetite we all must have single or otherwise to get the full enjoyment out of being ourselves and at peace with our own company.
Dining out is the most wonderful opportunity for food and beverage to release the vulnerability of a person’s soul and find one’s true-self. While some people take up hobbies to ‘bond’ with others or their inner-workings, food can be a great learning experience in the connection with your soul and with others. Some people use it as a facade to hide behind or means of self-torture and self-loathing, but usually it’s a drug in itself for a ‘cure-all’ to pain. Single or not, a number of factors weigh in on love based on how we embrace life as it relates to the food we eat. Sound kinda silly?
Whether you enjoy the spicy or the savory, the sweet or the tangy -food is an adventure and is reflective of one’s openness, willingness to taste life. You can choose to chew and digest or swallow whole and get indigestion. From smooth easy-to-swallow textures that go-down-easy and vibrant visually appealing colors, to the merging of cultures and techniques and applied methods of manipulation, food parallels our behavior and relationship values in preferences on a surface level, but deeply into the subconscious of how we devour life and love.
I am a slow eater. I don’t rush. I savor. I enjoy. And I have an appetite, but I do not abuse myself by overindulging. I get hungry and I satisfy the hunger. I am selective, reflective and cherish my choices. I value this system for what it is. And while this mirrors how I treat food, it also mirrors how I embrace myself acceptance in order to be at peace with everything, which in-turn leads to how I feel about loving people, friends, family, a special romantic partner, the world I live in and the choices I’ve made for my life, my career and my personal existence.
So now when I order a la carte, an entree or the 7-course wild tour into comatose heaven leading up to dessert, I realize life offers choices very similarly. It can be the greatest thing since sliced bread, a bowlful of cherries, a cheesy moment, totally bananas, chicken-like and fearful, the apple of your eye, egg on-your-face, a peachy deal, a bunch of bologna, an opportunity squashed to pieces, nutty, a true lemon, a long running ‘cereal’ OR something you can milk and juice to death and just roll with the punches.
It’s the food of life. Life is love. Love is food for the spirit. Anyone hungry?
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