The fact is food is one of my favorite things period. I love to eat. I love to eat well. I can't stand fast food or prepacked heat and eat crap. Those things turn me off faster than a dog licking peanut butter out of my ass crack (George Pelacanos wrote that line in a book I just finished). My family likes to eat food that is well prepared and well thought out. We are picky when it comes to food. We will try anything, but we want to make sure it came out of our hands, following our rules, following our tastes.
It can get down right bad at times. We have virtually stopped eating out anymore because the quality of the food is so bad and when we get the bill we realize that we did not even enjoy what was in front of us. At this point and time about the only thing we eat out anymore is seafood, fish and sushi specifically, because that is one of those items that we just never quiet get right. It isn't tricky, or so we've been led to believe, but we have thrown away or eaten overcooked fish on more then one occasion.
We usually turn down invitations to go and eat at the neighbors as well. The two men are both grill masters who have never really taken the time to use temperature as the key to cooking over fire. They do not read recipes and the like to cook ribs (one of my least favorites off of the grill). When we do go, we usually make sure that we either eat at home before hand, that way we only have a little bit of the food there, or we will bring over something that we know we will eat as kind of "we thought this would go well with . . . " gesture.
We have also taken over the local holiday cooking as well. Usually this is the exclusive territory of the eldest living female in the area (in this case my mother-in-law) however we have become snobs when it comes to this tradition as well. We always offer to cook on Thanksgiving and Christmas (the other holidays and birthdays we offer as well), so that we can make sure that we serve a meal that we will want to eat. We always look at the whole table and make sure that we serve something that everyone will enjoy, but we always want that food to come from our hands and kitchen.
We like to cook. We love hearing the satisfaction that comes from peoples expression and thanks. It really is important for us to have that big family meal (and during the summer it is all three meals) each and every day. I grew up with my family around the dinner table. We watched the news, we talked about what was going on, we bonded. It wasn't always pretty, but it was when we knew we would be together at the same time to make sure that we knew what was going on in each others lives.
That is what the importance of meals together bring. It is about being able to share good food and family time in order for everyone to see what is happening in our bubble of the world.
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