Talking About Food

In a whole different way, food brings people together without food actually being present.

On a lazy and gray weekend my parents and I met with my uncles. We haven't seen them in a long while and outside our regular greetings and "how are you"s, there was not much to talk about. We stood around in a circle and looked out to the horizon and pretended to be interested in what was going on in that horizon. It was kind of awkward for me so I smiled and looked from one family member to the other. Then my dad said "I'm hungry" and everyone's ears perked up.

"We're going to go into town, where should we eat?" my dad asked.

My uncles came alive and we had a good conversation about food, restaurants, portions and prices. That's when I saw another positive aspect of food.

One of the best things about being a foodie is the great conversations you can have with anyone. Because everyone eats food they have something to say about it. Talking about food is so easy and for me, it can turn into an hours-long conversation if something or someone doesn't stop me.

In a whole different way, food brings people together without food actually being present.

I like some sports (in small doses), but I cannot talk about it. I certainly didn't have the vocabulary to talk to some of my coworkers about sports -- some of whom were sports reporters. There was a lot of sports chatter at my former workplace and I felt a little left out. But every once in a while, they would talk about food and they would talk to me about food. Some folks I never really talked to, but I did have one or two conversations about food with them.

In my current workplace, we have daily, sometimes multiple, conversations about food (I think on my job interview, the interview was taken over by a conversation about food!). And as the new girl last year, food talk broke the ice for me. When I mentioned food, an easy conversation was started and it lead to a couple of friendships.

But lately, I noticed some snootiness coming from myself when I'm talking about food. If they mention restaurants or foods I don't like, I can be judgey. And I don't like that. I realize I'm a more advanced eater than a lot of people because I have this blog, I take food photos, I read food magazines, articles and listen to food podcasts. And sometimes I get annoyed by some people and it shows a little bit. I'm working on it.