Ramblings for reflection
on pleasure and nutrition
Hello Friends!
If you’ve been following me for a bit, I’ve mostly been posting well-researched essays however I won’t be able to write for the next month and Febs big brain bonk prevented me from being able to work on pieces to put in the queue. So instead, I thought I’d leave you with some more conversational ramblings to help you think about your/our relationship with food. Hopefully, I’ll have more essays to share in May.
A question for you: How do you decide what to eat?
What informs your decisions?
Taste?
Comfort?
Shame?
Performance?
Optimization?
Self-righteousness?
Confusion?
What about pleasure?
Why would a person need to choose a food because it is “good” for them, unless they believed that the majority of the foods that constitute their diet were “bad” or “not good” for them?
I never think about whether a food is good for me… and ~50% of my diet is vegetables, ~80-90% plants… and not because I strive for health. It’s because I crave pleasure.
I crave the burst of oils that cilantro releases when I rip it up with my hands before sprinkling it on my eggs.
I crave the crunch of red cabbage between my teeth, and the way the combination of mayo and lime juice coat my mouth while chewing slaw.
I crave how cooked celery, peppers, and onions humble shrimp in gumbo - the roux mending all the flavors together.
I don’t think about health, do you? How does thinking about health impact your diet? Does it make you “enjoy” your food because it’s the “right” thing to do? Or does it encourage you to investigate the wide range of properties of food to help you discover how nutrients help us enjoy food.
How would we eat if we really, truly, connected with food?
I’d love to hear how you connect with and enjoy the food that you eat. Sharing may help give others some inspiration to connect more fondly with food. Feel free to leave a comment below!
Most mornings, after my kid goes to school, I make myself breakfast. I have flowers on the table, I put on a record, I brew a moka pot, and I make myself a meal that I know will bring me pleasure. Usually it's a few fresh eggs from my chickens in some form, but a bowl of full fat yogurt with berries and honey or some crisp bread with brown cheese and fruit make their way into the rotation, too. When I give myself the time and space to be intentional toward both nourishment and pleasure, it sets me up to face the day in a more grounded, optimistic way.
Beyond that, pleasure is always a driver--but with a bit less space and intention around it. I'm going to hit the salad bar at work, every day, and that salad will guaranteed slap--and I'm going to eat it out of a takeout container at my desk. My mid-afternoon snacks are always a push for protein, but it has to be something I enjoy. Dinner is hit or miss, depending on how busy things get. I think that the focus on pleasure drops throughout the day by virtue of time and the people I'm with. Because I do derive so much pleasure from a good meal, I want to be able to really enjoy it--fussing around creating a pleasurable meal when the environment doesn't allow for it feels like I don't get the return on what I put into it.
Love this prompt and it's fascinating because everyone is different! I typically think about how I want to feel — both as I eat the food (textures, flavors, etc.) and afterward. This inadvertently often leads to healthful choices, but sometimes nothing comforts me more than a moist chocolate cake. All are equal parts pleasurable and "good" for me, I believe, as they are in response to hearing what my body needs and craves.