Kitchen: Kitchen Table.

Yesterday I was out and about with a small group of friends sharing food in a new restaurant that open in town. This event reminded me of how important is to share our food and to eat together at a table. Nowadays is hard to sit together as family, is not the same to eat alone than to eat with others, because is not only food that we are sharing is the experience of togetherness.

Hello Welcome to my personal blog "Kitchen and letters".

For over a year, our life has changed all around, specially our social life. We are not allowed to get togher for anything, when getting together is what life is all about. It's badly seen to have gatherings of any sorts, to share with people what we love the most: food. Last night and in other occasions, specially to me that I enjoy meals as much as a I do, it made me feel HUMAN again, it made me feel alive. I know I might get criticism now , saying that I risk it for one meal, but you see it was not one meal, is the act of feeling alive by eating with a group of people whom with I share similar ideas, and that makes it worth being alive, and all the work we do everyday to keep us alive. Also this act brought me back to my childhood memories at the kitchen table. For my mother, eating together was as important as math or any other subject. As we were growing up, eating together was an opportunity to share education, to teach us what to eat, when, the topics that should be shared, it was family time, quality family time. My mother made extra effort to cook healthy, fresh and versatile menu together with a beautiful table set. She had cutlery and china for any occasions as she enjoyed having us all together, for her eating together and making all that effort has been her way to say "I love you" " I care for you" "You are important". This has been her language; her voice. For her even the everyday meal is a celebration, I consider myself lucky to have grown up with such tradition. Nowadays when I get the opportunity to share a meal with someone, I take it.

The kitchen table is the opportunity to pass on culture, history, family traditions, love, manners. It's a opportunity for parents to teach values, health, healthy habits. Family members can role play, learn to work as a team. Share responsibilities and have fun with storytelling.

That said, today I emarqued in a quest to find information on this topic. Here are my favorite part and the parts that resonated with what I wanted to share with you.

"Across cultures and time, food sharing is an almost universal medium for expressing fellowship; it embodies values of hospitality, duty, gratitude, sacrifice and compassion. The shared meal is an opportunity not only to eat, but also to talk, to create and strengthen bonds of attachment and friendship, to teach and learn.

At family mealtimes, children learn developmental skills, such as holding a cup or manipulating chopsticks, and acquire and develop language and literacy skills through the flow of conversation. For young children especially, “table talk” may be the main source of exposure to family conversation and the expression of thoughts, ideas and emotions.

The lament for the lost family meal may actually be a reaction to perceived or feared change in family structures and arrangements.

Through the exchange of stories, anecdotes and news, children learn about the adult world and the interests and attitudes of their parents, while adults get to learn about the interests and attitudes of their children’s world. At family mealtimes, parents know where their kids are; they can gauge their moods and needs, and uncover and help solve problems".

Eating at my mother's table did not mean that we did not have out participation in it, she set the rules and we followed. Family meals as said before is a great opportunity to talk. She always talked about future family trips, gatherings, house projects, how she view the world. We as kids learned about negotiations, strategy, we learn to ask for what we wanted. I grew up looking at my parents sign important agreements, contracts, and why not make one or two "friends" tremble with all the questioning as if they were FBI agents.

Have you ever thought of how many revolutions or conspirations have been agreed in a kitchen table? Kitchen tables are powerful and eating together is always a revolution!

Thank you for reading.

With good food,

Iliana Lanuza

Links:

https://vanierinstitute.ca/eating-culture-family-meal/