Intimacy through Eating

If you ever watch someone eat, it is a disgusting affair. Some people can eat without getting food on them or all over themselves but really the human body looks silly when we eat. We eat not to look good but because we have to eat. If we were to quit eating we would die.

I live in a time and place where I can also eat out of enjoyment not because I have to eat but because I want to. Eating makes us feel good and we can choose what we eat making the experience even better. Groups of “foodie” type people are popping up everywhere to take eating to new heights of adventure, of pleasure and expense.

No one is concentrating on making us look good while we eat. Mothers maybe. Mothers maybe the only people on the planet who try and get us to keep our mouths closed, to not spill, to sit up straight, to not have or arms on the table.

Have you drank six bourbons and then watched someone eat?

The experience, like most things after six bourbons, is totally different than without the bourbons. I get it. You get to see the animal within. You observe a connection between the fed and the food. Eating is an all sensory moment. Can you ever remember anything that is going on while your eating? Sure we sit down with other people to eat, conversation happens between bites, eating is probably the most social thing we humans do but it is also one of the most solitary experiences we have as well.

I am talking about when you are tasting, chewing, and swallowing. It’s like the world stops, you can’t talk, your breathing changes, you go into a little of bubble to eat a bite, then you come out. I never noticed it until I was watching people eat (after I drank quite a bit). The person is completely alone in consumption.

Eating might be the most intimate thing we do, but who are we intimate with? We escape into ourselves to eat and we are alone, surviving another day by eating another meal. I think thats why most people don’t like to eat alone. When they come back from the bubble, they want to see a familiar face, an outstretched arm. Hear the roar of dull dinner time conversation.