Fill your Food with Feelings

Let’s talk about food in a different way. Let’s talk about feeding our heart instead of filling our stomach.

Our cultural beliefs & rituals give a great prominence to food. Adam ate an apple and look, it created the human race. Lord Rama had Sabri’s ber and niti & nyaya were established. Krishna too ate Sudama’s handful of rice and a friendship became immortal. Did it really fill their stomach? Well it did not, but it did satisfy their appetite & emotional cravings. Food is not always related to fill the stomach; it is also related to feelings that fill our hearts.

Now let us indulge in a thought experiment recollecting our tryst with food through different phases of life.

Time-traveling to childhood. Remember the tiffin that would have to be opened much before the recess break! And the smell of that “aam ka achhar” would spread all over class. As we returned home, the lunch was ready and the beautiful smell reached the porch and we rushed to the kitchen guessing what has been cooked. Grand mom’s house was always over laden with the sweet smell of those besan ke laddoos. Few fragrances just linger forever and they remain as fresh as their taste that waters our mouth whenever we think about it.

The craving forever dwells for that extra bite. The smell arouses our senses, mouth watered and as the bite mixes with our salival juices, its nothing less than meeting of the horizons. Eyes shut, brains too and lost in the taste so divine, a bliss on the face, nothing less than a luscious orgasm. Food slips through our throat and knocks the stomach, but it’s the heart whose doors are happily opened.

There is food for every emotion; the craving varies according to our feelings. It is worth noting that every desire to feed ourselves is linked with the aim to quench the hungry soul. We always long for the home cooked food that satisfies us from within. The maid uses the same ingredients that our mother does, but there’s always something that is missing in her food. Ever pondered what that something is?

It is always the game of intentions that are behind what’s being cooked and eaten. Perhaps intentions are that something which is missing! Over time, we witness a shift from ‘food for heart’ to ‘just an ordinary meal’ ourselves!

The beautifully plated breakfast becomes a wrap as we have to reach office on time. Lunch was heated thrice and kept uneaten as the desktop work ate our time. Dinner was cooked early in the evening and we reached late, it got rotten and it was brown bread with chips that we finally ate. Recipe remains the same, but changing emotions towards it have altered the taste. Oh the altered tastes of consciousness!

However, sunny side up, there is always time to ignite back the spice in our life by bringing back food as the secret ingredient to happiness. The food that was in the refrigerator since two days and will ultimately reach the garbage bin could have filled the stomach of the hungry garbage collector. Tips at the restaurant if replaced by a beautiful comment for the chef could have made his next dish even tastier. The messages of “Don’t wait for me at dinner” can always be exchanged as “Wait, don’t cook…we’ll prepare and have it together.”

If it revolves around food, then fill your food with feelings. Eat not always to fill your stomach. It depends all upon perceptions and the next meal that you have can definitely fill your heart! 🙂

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