Was thinking about this as I walked the kids to school..so put it out there for your feedback and just to get it out of my head and "on paper" as such...A large part of my social identity (to me) is food. When friends come I bake homemade quiche (low fat with edam cheese etc), I make foccaia bread and home made hummus. My pavalovas are alwasy successful and sought after down to the last crumb. I love making food from scratch for people in kinda an italian mama sort of way. I love the summer and barbeques and mediterranean eating. We dont have a lot of flash stuff, but we do eat well and we grow a lot and food is where a lot of our engergy and money goes (rather than the tapware etc...). I love having friends to stay and bubbly as we watch the the sun set over the sea from our house or garden.
So how do I disentangle this food being part of my identity?
By the same token i know we all have to eat, food is not the enemy. Food is fuel. But I see it as more than fuel, it is also warmth, friendship, acceptedness, style, even some snob value that I dont buy specialty bread, hummus or cakes, I make them. The house may less than a mansion (which I would ever want anyway to be honest) but the food and the coffee are always good!
Lately i started learning mosaics which I so love. It is the first time in more than 10 years I have pursued a hobby. Since the kids were born and even before when i was really caught up in my professional life, my hobbies dropped away that I had enjoyed as a kid and young adult, like knitting, sewing, dressmaking, scrapbooking, crochet, photography, drawing, painting etc. So now I have a new "piece" of me that is nt related to food, wine or children! I think it has been important to go down this new track and find I am able to identify with things other than food. As the creative person I have always been.
So far the journey has been physical and about goal setting and determination to live, not die. Now I am thinking about deeper things, which seems quite right seeing as I am now officially on the second half of this journey
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Its funny you should say that, i also had the same problem that i was so caught up in work and the kids that I had no hobbies. Possibly no me time much other than what i THOUGHT was me time :D
So was cycling your new "me" hobby? Anything else?
Hi Kim, I have the same problem with associating good times with food. In fact, while I'm on this program I think it would be really hard to entertain because what I usually serve to others is not what I'm eating now (pasta, garlic toast, blue cheese and wine). Well, you get the picture. I will be going away for the weekend and I've already warned them not to be offended because I will be bringing my own food. This is such an alien concept here in Asia to just eat your own things and NOT share! So, I don't have a solution for this connection with food because I see that it is a Global connection that most people feel.
Hi Helen. Yes it's hard, we will have to eventually change our whole social mindset somehow?
I am staying with a friend over the school holidays in a week or so and already told her, I will be no fun, as I cant drink wine, we cant even sit and enjoy our plunger of coffee together as we always do. She said we can have fun without wine and pathetically I said, how?! It's not like I am rich and we can go shopping instead!
Another person I will visit on my trip loves to sabotage me by buying fish and chips for lunch (my old favourite) even when I produce my own food, which I have done before and it was seen as a challenge, so out came the fish and chips despite my protests. Then, get this, she did not eat her share...This person is a close relative, if it were a friend, you would de-friend them for this type of stunt. So you did the right thing forewarning them not to be offended and so they could plan not to cater for you.
Hopefully they will be supportive, if not still stick to it.
Big change for me!
Hey you live in Asia but you eat mediteranean style food? I take it you are not Asian yourself.
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