Short Essay 1

Robert Seiler

Dr. Leake

WRIT1133-63

31 March 2013

Living to Eat

            JRR Tolkien wrote, “ If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” Food has never really been the center of my life, rather far from it to be truthful, but what transpires during meals with close friends and family is what I really learned to cherish. The significance of food to me is the relationships built, ties strengthened, and fun had while dining. A good meal to me is one where I have meaningful conversations, gain further understanding of people around me, when time stands still and all your worries are put aside for that time. However, now that I am living in Denver to go to school I have new friends, no family, and no familiar restaurants to go to. This geographical change also comes with a big cultural change because eating has always been a family and friend oriented experience.

            Since both of my parents were very poor throughout their childhoods they always wanted to make sure I was well fed. My mother became quite a good cook, and my father had become a very skilled griller so needless to say, we never had any shortage of good meals in the Seiler household. However, as a child I was a very picky eater and I really only liked a handful of foods- mostly breakfast food, hot dogs, and macaroni to be precise. I never really appreciated the excellent chicken, mashed potatoes, and other dishes my mother cooked for dinner every night, but I did somewhat enjoy my father’s grilling. My parents always used to joke about feeding me through a tube because I wouldn’t eat my vegetables and that would make me very unhappy because at the time I could not detect sarcasm as well as I can now. My father would always tell me, “There are two types of people in this world- those who live to eat and those who eat to live- you’re the second,” and this, up until my teenage years, was spot on accurate. Food had never been a significant part of my life and since my parents had to almost struggle to get me to eat, I never had too many meaningful dining. Overall, until recently food had not been an important part of my life, I simply ate to live.

In my more recent years I have discovered the importance of food and the dining experience. Studies suggest that while people are eating food together they are much more sociable and kind and that is something I truly believe. Once I became a teen I developed a greater appetite and a craving to venture out and trying new foods and once that happened I became closer with my parents and friends on a much deeper level. I started enjoying food much more and my mom said to me, “it’s like your taste buds exploded over night!” I started loving my dads grilling and my moms cooking and I soon attempted to learn how to start preparing meals. In short, food became an actual part of my life when I was 13 years old.

I will always remember my favorite food at home: my father’s excellent grilling that he would do multiple times a week back home. Since we lived in San Diego we could eat outside year-round and we took full advantage of that. The most powerful memories are of standing out by the grill with my dad while he grilled some chicken or steak. The cool, sea-scented breeze gently passing through the trees being pushed from the beautiful sunset always comforted me and gave me a strange, yet powerful, sensation of belonging and joy. Looking across my back yard I would see our pool complete with a waterfall and waterslide, the fresh cut lawn where my family and I would play games, and the inviting Jacuzzi where I spent a lot of time. While we ate we would enjoy the beautiful scenery, talk about our days and what we planned on doing in the near future, and we would also be told stories from our parents. Whatever had happened in the time before eating dinner did not matter in the slightest. We would talk, laugh, and enjoy the tasty food regardless of previous confrontation. Even with all the typical drama, we were still a family and when close friends were enjoying life or having issues it would be discussed and sorted out at the table. At our home, and especially at the diner table, our friends were our family. The meals we shared made us feel the deep love we had for each other, the overwhelming appreciation for the lives we were given, and the people we were blessed to shared them with.

When I left my family and best friends for college, I also left behind the connectedness created by eating meals together. This made my transition from high school to college rougher for me. I started eating many of my meals alone and the food in the cafeteria was bland and boring- and the dining environment was even more so. I had begun to lose the love and happiness I felt back home because I did most of my talking over meals which was, at the time, impossible. This realization of the importance of food is very new to me- in fact I realized it only a few short weeks into coming to the University of Denver. However, I have been fortunate enough to gain close friends through my college journey and I have shared many meaningful dining experiences with them, but it still is not the same because my small piece of heaven in San Diego, California where the skies are blue, the nights are warm, and my family is still sharing the best home cooked meals you’ve ever had.

Until recently, I simply “ate to live” instead of “lived to eat”. If one were to examine both options, “living to eat” seems like it would lead to being a very portly individual, but I believe my father meant it in a different way. I think “Living to eat” means understanding, and acting upon, the idea that the most meaningful conversations and deepest understandings of life can come from sharing a simple meal with the most important things in the world to you- your family and friends.