Eating habits of the modern day human

            Lately I’ve been watching as my seven-year old daughter wolfs down everything in her sight.  The other day she ate a whole cantaloupe for breakfast. 

“The whole cantaloupe?” I asked, incredulously, hoping she considered her dad may want a small slice.

            She just smiled, indicating mom had given her full permission to devour the over-sized fruit.  She is a growing girl, after all.  Yes, but the whole cantaloupe??

            I thought the big eating splurges started at adolescence, but perhaps I’ve forgotten about the occasional growth spurts.

I remember a time, not so long ago, where we had to continually harass our child to eat faster.  We would spend a full hour at the table, watching her play with her potatoes.  (I never could understand what she had against the carbs, but she was an Atkins diet adherent from the beginning.) 

Now it’s probably not a good thing to tell your children to hurry up when eating because you know that sooner or later, you’re gonna have to slow them down.  That time has come.

            Now she finishes supper before I can start asking how her day was at school. She’s turned into a human vacuum. 

Cow tongue - another Ukrainian delicacy

            I suppose I should be happy to have a child who actually enjoys eating.  And the stuff she doesn’t like, she gets anyway.  Beet and eggplant salads are mainstays in our Ukrainian-Canadian household – usually not the number one pick for children (or adults?!), but at least one spoonful gets dumped on her plate each meal.

            I’ve heard you have to try a new food 17 times before you get used to it.  Yes, that’s a lot of liver…

            More liver would certainly help slow down the pace of our meals.  I need the reminder to slow down, too.  For myself, while food is enjoyable, it’s really not about savouring every last morsel as I sip on a glass of chardonnay. 

            I know people who get really excited about food, and I certainly recognize what good food tastes like.  I’ve been berated numerous times by my friends who remind me how lucky I am to have home-cooked meals prepared every day – and believe me, I know!  But as soon as you leave me to my own devices in the kitchen, the quality goes right down the tubes. 

            It’s all about efficiency when I’m cooking.  How can I make something that I can eat and get on with my life as soon as possible?  Fried eggs, anyone?  Although even that requires my fullest concentration.  Family members know not to talk to me at critical points in the egg-frying process, lest I crack – yes, like an egg – under the pressure.

My cooking instructions... just in case I forgot my vegetables

            My wife takes a different approach to food, thank goodness.  She understands food.  She pays attention to every ingredient.  She knows how a dish will taste just by looking at the recipe.  And she can multi-task, too, which helps immensely.  Being able to monitor three boiling pots at the same time is beyond me.

            Having the patience to cut vegetables for 30 minutes is also beyond me.  I once made lasagna (with step-by-step instructions laid out across the countertop), after which I understood the appeal of TV dinners.  After labouring for a good two hours on this Italian masterpiece, it was decimated in minutes by my daughter.  That was it – it was gone.  There was no bringing it back.

            It’s an unfortunate reality, but “slow cooking," along with slow eating, is becoming a thing of the past.  It’s just not appreciated enough.

            I’ll try to remember that the next time I’m wolfing down my wife’s lasagna.