Food has stopped being just food.
We’ve messed around with it all so much that we can’t see the wood for the artificial trees.
We’ve got so caught up in the whole subject that we’ve lost sight of the key feature.
Food feeds.
It’s the human version of fuel.
It’s a natural requirement, not just a lifestyle choice.
It’s easy to forget this.
Because we’ve complicated the subject. Food has been media-ised, stylised and politicised. It’s been written, talked and argued about; finger-pointed at; dissected; analysed; debated; genetically modified.
There’s a cookery show for every palate, audience, season and occasion. A diet for every age group, blood type and working pattern. A celebrity for every eating plan, cuisine – and campaign, for every age group, body type and social class. ….
Have I made my point?
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not attacking 21st century Western societies. I buy into it with the best of them –
I know that spam is only socially acceptable when someone famous says so. That chocolate is linked to comfort, women and heart health (providing its taken in moderation with 70% plus coca solids). That Jamie Oliver does chicken twizzler free schools; Gordon Ramsay, failing restaurants; and, Gillian McKeith, tongues and quinoa. I’ve got my brands sorted, know my organics from my artificial, have my green priorities in check: I get the messages loud and clear.
But I do have to remind myself what it’s really about.
Food feeds. You can’t keep going without it.
And this is my only issue with the whole obsession: It makes that message unclear.
Blame is the easy option. It’s not my style. I could, at this point, pin my whole experience of anorexia on some irresponsible media messages or the failings of modern society. But I’m not interested in wasting yet more time.
What I am interested in, is why food has become so enmeshed and entangled and emotive.In why it has become the metaphor of choice; and, how we get back to the simple fact -
Food feeds.
Tags: Food, sign of the times
