When have People lost the ability to enjoy Food?

It’s time to geek out about it.

Apparently, I have a problem: I enjoy food. And it’s not about me binge eating like crazy because that has nothing to do with enjoying food. It’s about the genuine joy of eating a good meal.

If you look outside the foodie circles most discussions seem to turn around hacking your body, making nutrition more efficient but no word about making food more tasty. Two recent posts I read made me wonder how and when people lost their ability to enjoy food.

The first one was about the Soylent campaign on Kickstarter that attracted over 6000 backers who apparently like the idea to survive without food, at least as we know it.

Soylent is a food replacement product developed by Rob Rhinehart which contains all the nutrients the human body needs to survive. The idea was born at the intersection of our new fast paced lifestyle that seemingly prevents us from eating well as unhealthy options better fit the daily schedule than a self cooked meal. Rhinehart is now living for months on Soylent and at least all his vital signs and blood work is excellent.

The second post was by someone in my personal network who first became a vegetarian and now switched to raw food, only. As Marco points out in his post, most people just don’t understand this kind of decision for a variety of reasons and I could probably start an entire discussion about nutrition and all that but what struck me most in his argumentation is the following statements

One of the most common remarks I hear is that it’s important to ‘enjoy’ your food. I suppose it is. But who really enjoys their food? I’m sure the majority of people will positively state that they do. But they don’t, and nor do you.

[…]

Are you a happier person today because of that lovely meal you ate last week? Last month? All those meals you enjoyed so much last year? Ask yourself that question, I don’t need the answer. Your first line of thought may be that yes, you are happier, because those meals were part of your life and you were able to carry on because of that food.

[…]

I certainly think food should taste good but so it should otherwise we wouldn’t eat it. But if your happiness comes from food then you’re likely to have a problem. How much time do we spend actually eating a day? 30 minutes? 45? It’s a very small part of your day and you’d do well to think about the 90% of the time you aren’t eating and see what you enjoy from that.

I really hope that I am not the only one out there, and I am pretty sure I am not, but hell yes, I am a happier person because of a meal I had yesterday, last week, last month or even years ago. Lots of my favorite memories are tied to having or cooking a great meal.

And talking about the time spend with food, there is more to it as well. It is time that we start to geek out more about food because it is not just a mean to keep you alive. It is a whole process that starts with an idea in your head, then goes over the experience of sourcing the right ingredients to preparing the meal and in the best case sharing it with friends and family.

Of course, I can relate to the problem of having a busy lifestyle but I took the decision years ago that I am going to have at least one self made meal each day. It also helps me to get away from sitting in front of the computer, getting out to stroll on one of the farmer’s markets in my region, building relationships with local farmers, butchers and other artisans who love food as much as I do.

People today geek out about the weirdest things, so why not one of the greatest things you can have everyday?