Eating is by far my favorite pastime. I think about food constantly. The minute I finish with breakfast, I’m stewing over lunch, and dinner is always in the back of my mind.
Multi-tasking, for me, means doing whatever it is I’m doing while patrolling the Internet for the latest restaurant openings. I take notes on unusual ingredient combinations while watching Chopped. It’s an obsession, to say the least, and I’ve been this way for as long as I can remember.
Now, some may find this disconcerting, however, before you go ahead and label me with an addictive personality, let’s take a few moments to discuss the handful of very valuable lessons I’ve learned from my love for anything and everything culinary:
1. Everything In Moderation
Whoever said, “You can never have too much of a good thing” probably wasn’t the most balanced individual you’d ever meet. Just as when you season a dish with a pinch of salt, if you go overboard, the dish can be ruined; season too sparingly, and you’re yearning for just that tiny bit of extra oomph from your meal.
As we’ve all seen from time to time, too much of a good thing can end badly. Whether it’s one too many pieces of cake at your friend’s wedding, or reacting as though the world is ending every time it rains, it’s best to practice moderation and find a happy balance in both your meals and in life.
2. You Don’t Always Have To Follow The Recipe
Sometimes, you follow a recipe to a T and it just doesn’t turn out right. Why? Because every kitchen is different.
The tomatoes on your countertop are different shapes and sizes from the tomatoes on the chef’s countertop when she developed her recipe for bolognese that you’re attempting. Your tomatoes may have a higher acidity and require less vinegar in the sauce. The tomatoes the chef used may have yielded more fluid, so you might need a touch more vegetable stock than what the recipe calls for.
Life is very much the same way. We often all go through similar circumstances, but sometimes the “recipe” someone else used to get through it might not lead to the ideal outcome for us. So we need to use our judgment, make changes, and adjust accordingly.
3. You Are What You Eat
This one’s pretty straightforward. A few summers ago, I was shoveling down lobster soaked in butter like it was nobody’s business. You can only imagine the look on my doctor’s face when she saw my cholesterol test results. Yikes.
Like life, we get back what we put in. If we’re running around all day thinking negative thoughts and behaving in negative ways, we can pretty much guarantee karma will come back and bite us in the ass.
Food impacts our lives in many ways, some of which we may never understand. How has food impacted your life?
