Raw Food and Social Life
Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 10:47AM I wanted to address one of the biggest aspects of eating raw food. The social aspect.
For most people, food is not about nutrition. Nor health.
For the majority of society, food is a form of communication.
When we feel like seeing all our friends – we’ll invite them for a barbie. When we need to meet a new business contact – we’ll share a meal together. When we want to impress our new lover – we’ll cook them a romantic dinner. When we just feel like going out of the house in the evening – we’ll go out to a restaurant. When we want to celebrate an occasion or a holiday – we’ll share a huge meal with our family.
A lot of the time we eat food without knowing what it’s made of or how it was prepared - it is of no importance. What’s important is, that it looks, smells, and tastes good. And that we enjoy the social interaction while eating it.
When we decide to change our eating habits to a diet that is more conscious, a diet that emphasises the nutritional value of the food we eat – we need to be more cautious. All of a sudden, knowing what the food is made of and how it was prepared makes a lot of a difference! So how can we enjoy the social interaction when we are constantly engaged in defending our decision not to eat the food that is presented to us?
Some people find it pretty easy. I was very lucky that way, as I moved into a raw vegan diet so gradually, that it allowed me enough time to make new friends. Most of my friends now are eating the same type of food as I do. I can share beautiful meals with them without thinking twice – I know that their food choices is at least as strict as mine… However soon I’m planning to go visiting my family (they live 14,000 kilometres away – so I don’t get to see them THAT often…) – will I not be eating grandma’s food that she puts so much love and effort in preparing especially for me?
This coming Saturday I’m invited to a friend’s birthday party for pizza. What I tend to do in these occasions is to eat beforehand, so I really don’t feel hungry there at all. I’m reminding myself that I’m going there for the company, not for the food.
Which reminds me of another social aspect – food related conversations. I do my best to avoid this topic, and yet for some *odd* reason the conversations I have with people tend to evolve around my food choices… I don’t really mind, on the contrary, it’s nice to talk about things I ‘m very passionate about. But please don't take it personally if I don't feel like answering the "where are you getting your proteins from?" question for the millionth time ;)
Here's a video clip that made me laugh, by Angela Stokes who used to be obese and now… Well, see for yourselves!
Reader Comments (4)
i love it :) beautiful post, and a fantastic video haha GREAT!
how much protein to we need? thats my question?!! haha
Great post. Same thing happens when me and my friends get together, food is always a favorite topic. I saw your site from the foodie blog roll and I really enjoyed reading your posts. Keep em coming :)
Great video!