Mulligan Stew

Within the last 15 years, and still to this day, I realize how lucky families are who have the opportunity to sit, talk, and eat at a dinner table, without feeling the compulsion to use their spoons as shovels to avoid personal contact. Between the lady and myself, we’ve both been fortunate to have experiences with family dining that are now, sadly becoming more of a novelty than a regular occurrence. It doesn’t matter what you cook. If you have somebody to eat with, eat with them. Use the dinner table as a means for communication. Eat at the table. Eat on the roofdeck. On the patio, on the front porch. It doesn’t matter where. Set the table together. Sit, relax, enjoy each other’s company. Food is not merely a means to sustain our bodies, but a vehicle to nourish our personal relationships with one another. It’s why the smell of hot dogs makes grown men nostalgic for a day at the ballpark with their fathers. It’s why we miss the flavors of home. Food is why we should gather at the table. How often we gloss over the important things merely to give ourselves the fuel we need to survive. Let us not forget that food was harvested and brought to the table, not bought for the table. It is why many people pray and give thanks, and why the Thanksgiving holiday is around. It doesn’t have to be relegated to a single day out of the year. Be thankful for the food and fellowship you have every day. Talk about the food you are eating. Recognize where it came from, and acknowledge how it was made. Better yet, share in the process of making it. Prepare food with your children, and teach them about vegetables, fruits, where their food comes from. They need to know, and as they get older, they will get an appreciation for what makes a good meal, and hopefully, someday, they’ll make someone a great dinner built out of thought and curiousity. Maybe it will be you. In the meantime, eat well.