Food Writing

* My experiences with both reading & writing about food are very limited. Food is not one of the subjects I had even considered when it came to my writing. The only food I have ever read about was in cookbooks.

* Food plays a major role in my life, only for the mere fact that I need it to survive. My entire life I have had a love/hate relationship with food. Food is important to me to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Food has never been simple for me, it has always been complex and forced at me.

*The role of food in my life has significantly changed over the years, however, I am not at the point in my relationship with food that I would like to be at. As a child, my parents had to physically force and threaten me to eat, because it was not something I had wanted to do, because of body issues. Growing up, my realtionship with food had gotten worse, for I had limited myself to what I could and could not eat and also gave myself a time period where I could and couldn't eat. As I have gotten older, only as recent as the last year, I haven't been as concerned with food the way I used to, but it is still an issue I struggle with. Most of the time I only eat once a day, which isn't good, but I'm still working on it.

* I think that the food we eat says a lot about who we are. It can define your social status, your personality, your heritage, etc. the list could go on. I do think we judge as well as classify others based on what they eat. For instance, if you see a girl eating nothing but sweets and junk food, and she is on the heavier side, one would assume that is the reason for her being heavy. One might even call her a fat slob that needs to put down the cheeseburger. Whereas on the other hand if you see a tiny girl eating a side salad, one would assume she has an eating disorder. We also judge people's social status when it comes to food. If their is a man and women enjoying a nice glass of wine and caviar, personally, I would assume they are rich snobs. Whereas if you see someone ordering the cheapest item on the menu, one would assume they are broke or cheap. Our perceptions of others based on what they eat are the same way based on what they look like, and it is a sad world how unfairly we judge others.

* At one point in my life, I was a vegetarian for almost 2 years. That was one of the most difficult times in my life because it was so hard going out in public, for I was alienated by my life choice. At that time, the vegetarian options were nothing like they are today. Everytime I would go out to eat with friends, I had to order a salad because that was virtually the only option there was. People assumed I didn't like to eat or was on a diet, rather than a lifestyle choice that wasn't supported by others.