Food For Thought

I hope that:

By insisting that my children approach food with an open-mind they learn to have open hearts toward people groups, cultures, and traditions with which they may be unfamiliar.

By insisting that they appreciate food for what it is and judging it based on its merits, and not the arbitrariness of what they like or dislike at any given moment,  I will have instilled in them a critical mind that seeks to find the value in things and is empowered to validly make arguments against ideas and things that miss the mark.  They will seek a standard by which to form their opinions.  Opinions hastily made with no reflection are the fruits of an undisciplined mind housed by a person who has no grasp on the world around her or him and who only seeks out the interest of self.

By requiring them to experience foods that they think they may dislike and teaching them to eat those foods regardless of preconceived opinions, I will have taught them the art of objectivity.

By requiring them to exercise the act of describing what it is they like and dislike about any particular food they will develop the skills of introspection and articulation.

By describing how the ingredients of a dish affect them, they will learn to eat for more reasons than fleeting desire, or the momentary illusion of gratification.

By exposing them to the source(s) of their food, they will have a healthy reverence for food and not take it for granted.  By introducing them to the animals that provide their meat and dairy, they will have a sense of the sacred; a knowing that the promotion of their life means the death of another and must be done with intentional gratitude and respect.  They will learn to only take what is needed or what can be used. By getting their hands dirty with the cultivation of some of their food, they will realize that food is not a given and must always be taken with thanksgiving.

By insisting on the consistency of the family dinner table they learn, community and connectedness.