This is not an uncommon eating practice and since the unfortunate blaspheming of the art of Japanese food I have been paying more attention to the eating habits of everyone I know, myself included.
I honestly believe that people have forgotten to enjoy their food and I think it is a large contributing factor to the rise of obesity in our world right now. We shovel food into our mouths at an alarming rate. We eat on the bus, in the car, watching T.V., walking down the street, talking on the phone. We are unconscious of what we put in our mouth because we are too busy doing other things. All our focus about food is before: what will I eat, and after: when will I eat again. While we are eating it is like a race to make sure it ends as quickly as possible.
Since the Sushi incident, as it will now be known, I have made a conscious effort to eat only while sitting down at a table and all I have allowed myself to do is eat. This afternoon I made myself a peanut butter and jam sandwich and I savored it. I toasted those gorgeous pieces of bread and let the pb melt just a little on the warm toast. I cut it in triangles and chewed each bite relishing in the perfectness that is an all American lunch favorite. I focused on my food while I ate it and in doing so let myself be free of focusing on it afterwards.
We have become so afraid of our food. Someone mentions carbs and we cower in fear. Food and diet come up in conversations daily and everyone has a plan, story, or secret. Cupboards across the country are filled with low fat, low cal, low taste, sinless bags of artificial puffed rice balls made to taste like chicken or chocolate or Oreos. We feel guilty about eating and so we try and get it over with as fast as we can. We have taken all the fun out of eating because it is somehow wrong to enjoy our food.
