“Piehole” is a term that many of us have heard as slang. I always wondered as a kid why people would want to eat only pies. Then later I learned it was another name for the human mouth. So I guess we all could be termed as having “pieholes.”
“So where are you going with this piehole thing today Jeff?,” you might be asking yourself.
Well here is my look on it all. We have all heard you are what you eat. I mean look at Popeye, he ate spinach all the time and did look healthy or at least strong. If you eat healthy you stand a much better chance of being healthy. But where I am going with this whole piehole thing is what about your attitude. If I see my mouth as just a place to stuff the stuff, then will I just put in whatever I find that is called food?
Let me share with you what I learned in some of my travels. Food in other countries is shared as an event. It even starts with the outdoor markets, which can be very fun to shop. You can get quite an education about certain foods from the vendors selling them, it can be entertaining. I remember one large food market in Costa Rica as having a social atmosphere like a great big family reunion. Everyone was friendly, chatty, and even entertaining. Sort of like everyone’s Uncle that would have some neat trick or story to tell.
~ Food becomes a happening, an event! ~
After getting back to the house the family would start preparing the food as family continued to show up. The men would gather to trade the latest stories and the women would join in to laugh as the kids ran here and there just being kids. Later the meals would be served and the gathering would continue into the night. Now, I understand this meal event did not happen at every sitting. But I did see one thing that happened often when food was involved. It was an attitude that food was something to partake in and that it was not just something to stuff in the “piehole.”
We use gatherings around food to celebrate major events in our lives. So maybe it is time we start to think more often about what we are eating. I must admit I live a very blessed existence when it comes to food. Shannon is always trying out new recipes that she wants to share with you here on Cooking God’s Way and I must suffer through all these ;). The one thing that changed our lives the most was when we stopped stuffing our “pieholes” and starting thinking about what we were putting in our mouths.
Food became important and a chance to build our health. We began to live that we are what we eat. Food was no longer just something to eat for energy, it was a happening.
Have you discovered a food defining moment?