Confessions of a Fast Eater

After being married to a ex-marine who eats fast, I have almost lost my appreciation for food, as much as I enjoy and savor it. Once again I was wolfing down my dinner tonight like there was a big urgency for it to be eaten and be done and over with. I'm now reading Eat Pray Love (a full review will follow), and I just finished the first third when she's in Italy. She describes how she enjoys the food thoroughly taking in the flavors. Before my ex's influence, I ate somewhat slowly because I wanted to enjoy the food and now I have to relearn to eat slower again. The only time I eat slower is if I'm in a conversation with others, and ceasing to fully appreciate the food in front of me. I seem to have taken eating as more out of necessity than pleasure. We all tend to forget about enjoying the simple things with our on the go and rushed lifestyles.

The habit of speed eating was also influenced by my half hour lunches at work and that is a time when you have to eat fast to not spend the whole half hour eating. It may be understandable in the military when they have to run on many things on little time. I remember my best friend growing up saying that "I eat because I have to, not because I like to". She is entitled to her opinion but I was appalled by it because I assumed that just because I enjoy food, I thought everybody else had to too. I was sixteen when she made that statement and I already traveled a few states and been out of the country once and got to sample various foods from other cultures and developed an appreciation for food. I enjoyed helping friends out at dinner parties, not just for the extra dough but to watch and be inspired by other's style of cooking. That's what inspired me to read Gourmet magazine when I was 19-20; I even bought  it too and read through the complicated recipes,in college. I bought copies of it during my year stint at Keystone Resort in Colorado, not only to thumb through recipes , but for appearances, to appear classier than those ski bums I was living among. My cooking magazine of choice these days is Cooking Light, they have easy 20 minute recipes in the back that I've tried but I wolfed them down with urgency even on a relaxing evening at home. It's going to take some time to experiment with various foods again and get myself out of this food and eating rut and enjoy food again. Most of all make that pleasurable and every moment pleasurable, after all we live once.