Ummmmmm, food. I like it.

Food can act in several different roles in our lives: nourisher, friend, comforter, nemesis. It’s the one thing that every species on the face of the planet shares, as we all need sustenance. Although we may not find our fellow diners noshing on insects like our dear reptilian friends, we need to ingest our diet and we must do it on a regularly occurring basis.

Due to this frequency, one’s relationship with food can be a very complicated thing. We use it for varied reasons, from utilitarian to celebratory. We go out to dinner with friends to commemorate birthdays, we pour out the cereal in the morning because it’s quick, we spend hours shopping and in the kitchen making a special meal for our loved ones. These diverse uses can bring about differing emotions about food.

We’ve all witnessed the cinema queen crying into a pail of ice cream after the man of her dreams has left her. Or, perhaps there is the grouchy woman gorging on chocolate. One’s diet is not solely physiological; it’s also psychological. Have you ever noticed after a week of nachos and beer, not only is your stomach cantankerous but you’re also more miserable? However, if one eats all that crap they say is healthy on a regular basis, one is less prone to dark moods.

Not only is what we eat reflected in our temperament but our temperament can also determine what we eat. Depending on what our emotional needs are at the time, our food choices vary. That may explain my overwhelming yearning for gummy bears at the moment.

Oh gummy, gummy, gummy bears. Where are my tiny, sugary lovers?

Anyway, food can be linked to our very base nature. As early humans we engaged in the hunter/gatherer activities for our very survival. We hauled out our spears, laced on our animal skins, and ventured out into the wild world to claim our dominance over it by killing and eating whatever was in our way.

It’s in our genetic code to consume provisions. If you’ve witnessed the male of our species at a barbeque you are observing echoes of our ancestors rippling through time and splattering themselves all over that shirt you just laundered. Although our men may no longer slay the animals, they have no issue in imitating them in their table manners. Napkins are made available for a reason they have not quite deciphered.

Once the barbeque sauce had stopped flying, one may find oneself in a more investigative frame of mind. One of the more wonderful aspects of food is the wide assortment of it. There are so many different dishes out there, you can rest assured that your palate will never cease being surprised – a different sort of surprise than your wife’s experimental recipe from Mr. Hyde’s cookbook. From wild meats to exotic spices that float their aroma through the air like passionate poetry, there is a taste for every disposition. Food is like life: best explored fully.

This is all just rationalization and misdirection. I want some chocolate. Maybe some chocolate covered crickets?

Keri lives and eats in Boyle Street. No gummy bears were hurt during the writing of this article. However, what happened afterwards is anyone’s guess.