flora_mundi said...
bravo. i think that devouring a mango in all its messy glory is something everyone should experience. most people are much too prissy about eating...
... hey, you're so right, messy eating is so good, and children still understand that. Supermarkets and their delivery, distribution, and storage methods have already managed to kill most people's sense of taste and smell, and likewise, cutlery deprives of us of the pleasure of the kino of eating. Admit it. You know what a thrill you get to have permission to longingly hold that food in your fingers. Even more when you know it might otherwise be frowned upon. And afterwards just let the back of your hand wipe down your smug satisfied chops.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
Current thinking is that young children should be able to engage fully in eating, using fingers and so on, because the tactile nature of food is essential to its 'true' appreciation. The whole 1970s "open your mouth for the choo-choo train" style spoon feeding is seen as actually incredibly negative, and is obviously about submitting the child's eating to the will of the parent.
If music can be appreciated by the whole body, then why can't food be enjoyed for being tactile?
William, this blog, like the music that you're involved in producing, never fails to amaze me and make me think. We are so self conscious as 'grown ups' that we end up negating so much fun in our own lives. I've been lucky enough to spend a great deal of time with younger children, and I'm convinced that every rule that we come up with, and every aspect of 'manners' that we subject children to, is all about simply making our lives (as adults) easier and less tiring.
Of course, this means that we forget the whole point of living - pleasure. If you only give yourself ten minutes to feed the kid before putting them down to sleep, you're going to freak out when they do what comes naturally -to treat food as something to be enjoyed, at their pace, at their leisure. Jack got it right on - every action we do around children is for our convenience, not theirs. I hated my childhood because I saw through the crap that I was being sold, and didn't have the power to rise above it. If I could have childhood again on my own terms, it would involve lots of Dionysian displays of mayhem.
Bertrand Russell says that the typical unhappy man is one who, having been deprived in youth of some normal satisfaction, has come to value this one kind of satisfaction more than any other, and has therefoe given to his life a one-sided direction.
Not that I'm saying you're an unhappy man, or that you're life has a one-sided direction in terms of sensuality, but... I've seen the way you eat soup. ;-)
and didn't Russell also say that 'there is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge'?!
Reminds me of my childhood in China. One of the most endearing memories was the shock I got from watching locals eat noodles and assorted snacks (including mangoes!) so loudly and vivaciously - it was serious business and made the simple act of feeding so much more enjoyable. Obviously, to the average plumy expat, this carry on was seen as uncouth. For me, it was a far more honest appreciation of the simple things, and it made meal times fun. An interesting point about supermarkets, William, what with availability and packaging - maybe the west really has lost it's relationship with food...
tell it to most chinese eaters, houllebecq dixit...
Post a Comment