Food plays a vital, if underappreciated role in a our lives. We all know it’s importance, but so often a meal is reduced to finding something that is quick and easy to prepare as we rush on to our next meeting – eating is reduced to a minor activity in our day, something akin to putting petrol in your car: vital but not something we choose to dwell on.
Living in Korea, food has taken on a new significance in my life. Meals are no longer merely a matter of shoving something in my mouth as I move onto something more interesting or more important. My mind returns to the topic of food each and everyday, and it has been the topic of many conversations. Exchanging anecdotes about food and eating, in between much laughter, has been vital to the bonding of us few English speakers in Sang Ju. We are a fairly disparate group, and talking about food – establishing common likes and common dislikes has proved a bonding point. Not only do we use conversations about food to establish a common bond but we assert our independent identities through disagreeing about what is delicious, what is tolerable and what is simply disgusting. Not only have discussions about food been vital to the establishing new friendships, but these discussions themselves have invariably taken place over meals – and the sharing of rare and precious ‘western’ treats.
When I think of my meals with James, Barbara, and Brad the social occasions operate on many levels – Barbara demonstrates her suave and sophisticated taste, and how at least part of her identity is rooted in proudly French culinary traditions, through the meals that she prepares. But by sharing her cherished treats she also communicates at a far more basic level – she seems to say “I like you, therefore I share my food with you.” Something about this fascinates me. As our means of communication evolve and become outdated some of the simplest means of communication continue to convey meaning in a way that our modern methods of communication battle to match.
Living in Korea, food has taken on a new significance in my life. Meals are no longer merely a matter of shoving something in my mouth as I move onto something more interesting or more important. My mind returns to the topic of food each and everyday, and it has been the topic of many conversations. Exchanging anecdotes about food and eating, in between much laughter, has been vital to the bonding of us few English speakers in Sang Ju. We are a fairly disparate group, and talking about food – establishing common likes and common dislikes has proved a bonding point. Not only do we use conversations about food to establish a common bond but we assert our independent identities through disagreeing about what is delicious, what is tolerable and what is simply disgusting. Not only have discussions about food been vital to the establishing new friendships, but these discussions themselves have invariably taken place over meals – and the sharing of rare and precious ‘western’ treats.
When I think of my meals with James, Barbara, and Brad the social occasions operate on many levels – Barbara demonstrates her suave and sophisticated taste, and how at least part of her identity is rooted in proudly French culinary traditions, through the meals that she prepares. But by sharing her cherished treats she also communicates at a far more basic level – she seems to say “I like you, therefore I share my food with you.” Something about this fascinates me. As our means of communication evolve and become outdated some of the simplest means of communication continue to convey meaning in a way that our modern methods of communication battle to match.
Food fascinates me, and I hope that as I am exposed to culinary traditions over this year that meals will continue to stimulate more than just my taste buds.
James and Barbara sent me a comment via email - here it is:
ReplyDelete"Dear Julian,
Your comments on Barbara's culinary tastes are music to her ears and taste as good if not better than a vintage champagne !
For us, inviting others around is a means to go on a journey. But not any kind of journey.
Indeed, it's a journey of discovery to new horizons and culinary destinations.
See you soon for our next round trip !
Yours culinary,
James and Barbara.
P.S. We wanted to post our comment on your blog but had some trouble doing so, maybe you
can enlighten us the next time you're around :D"
(By the way I've changed the settings so that anyone can comment)