Food Glorious Food

Today I'm thankful for taste. It's kind an awesome thing if you think about it. I mean you only have so many taste buds and they can only register so many different kinds of tastes and yet they can combine together in such a way that can be unmistakable. Even different kinds of things like different variations of the same dish can taste drastically different even though they're pretty much made up of the same thing.

With taste of course come food. I have a hypothesis that food is magic. Food is a science in the way that its components go together. At the same time though it is an art form in its presentation, its variation and so many other creative elements. Food perfectly combines the two areas of the brain and our life and creates something amazingly delicious. Not only that, but you need food in order to function and survive. While I guess technically you could function if you just had an IV stuck in you or all you ate was MRI's, no one chooses to do that. You need food, both that art and the science. Without food you will die just like you'll die without what it embodies, the two halves of your brain coming together to not only fulfill a basic human need but also to create pleasure and joy. It's like that magical moment when you realize that religion and science can not only coexist but can also build and support each other and that you can (and I think need to) have both in your life. It's the same with food.

Food seems to have a way of bringing people together. I don't think it's a coincidence that almost all of our holidays have certain foods associated with them. Food seems to link so easily to emotion. Maybe that's why 90% of dates involve food. And while the food itself is great, some of my favorite activities, date or not, have been making food with others.

 Even if it turns out horribly (and as I'm thinking about it now of course I remember countless times where something with the food went wrong) or some other kink occurs it doesn't matter. The fact that you're making something together seems to be good enough. Once Hillary, Josh and I were making some Japanese dish for school and we were sure we had under cooked the meat and were going to poison our class. Once Aaron and I were making dinner and the oven was so slow it took 2 hours for the chicken to cook. Once the oil our family was heating for fondue almost caught on fire. The list goes on and on, but it doesn't matter because each disaster is a good memory to me.

Food is magical. It preserves life, it brings people together, it combines art and science together in unity, it both defines and bridges cultures and so much more. This Thanksgiving after you've beaten your cousin in your 4th wrestling match, go help prepare the food. And during the meal take a minute and think about the food that you're eating, who it is your eating it with, what it means to you, and why for it you should be thankful.