Food, Glorious Food

If you are old enough to remember the 1970s sit-com "Mork and Mindy,"  you may recall that in the course of the series, the character of Mork evolved into someone who was more or less like us humans.  He and Mindy even got married in one of the later season.  But in the first season, Mork was even more bizarre and alien than Robin Williams is in real life.  One of the things that made him strange is that he had no concept of food or eating.  In fact, he referred to eating as "consuming matter."  While eating is technically exactly that, all real humans know that eating is much more than just ingesting solid substances.  Food and all it means to us is important to us in countless ways.

For instance, I realized again this morning that one of the many things I appreciate about my wife Dana is that she can fry an egg exactly like I like them, over-medium.  Over-medium means that the white is done and the yolk is runny.   I have always regarded this as "the right way" to fry an egg, and not just any cook can do it the right way.  In fact, I am usually hesitant to order them this way in a restaurant, because the results are so often disappointing.  Either the yolk is too done, or the white is under done.  Unacceptable.  So, I usually just order them scrambled, which I like fine, but not as much as eggs done "the right way."

The reason I like my eggs this way is simple.  My mother cooked them that way for me when I was very young child.   She did this,  I believe, in an attempt to get my sister and me to eat eggs, because we pretty much refused to eat them cooked any other way.   I remember my mother spending a lot of time worrying about our nutrition back then.  I guess we were kind of picky.  Anyway, I developed a taste for over-medium eggs, and so now they are the standard to which I hold all fried eggs.


Food is intertwined with so many of our memories our lives. When I eat eggs fried  "the right way," when I eat German Chocolate cake, I think of my Mom and the great meals she cooked for us. When I eat pancakes, I think of my Dad, who made us awesome pancakes, which he called "hotcakes," almost every weekend of our childhood.  When I eat pizza, especially the Chef Boyardee kind from a box that we ate most often back then, I think of my sister Robin. Whenever we had pizza at home, Robin and I would race through eating it, each afraid that the other one would get a bigger share.  Whenever I have chocolate pie, I think of my Grandma Fouse, whose recipe produced a wonderfully delicious dessert.  Lasagna, which is another of Dana's specialties, always reminds me of the first meal she ever cooked for me, back when we were dating.



Food is always a part of happy times, of celebrations and holidays.  We have birthday cakes,  Thanksgiving turkeys, and Christmas dinners, to name a few.   There are cakes at baby showers and snacks and drinks galore at wedding receptions.  Few celebrations occur without something to eat being involved.

Food can also make ordinary days seem special, too.  I have noticed that in Cubicle City, where I work, the fastest way to get a conversation going is to bring up food.  "Have you eaten at that new restaurant?  They have the most awesome dessert!"  "Did you see that dish Becky brought for the potluck today?  I'll be chowing down on that!"  And speaking of potlucks,  have you ever noticed how much more relaxed and sociable people become when they are sharing food with other folks?  It's true.

Dana and I make fairly frequent trips to Oklahoma City to shop and visit.  We seldom go without incorporating a visit to one of our favorite restaurants into the plans for the day.  In fact, sometimes the real reason for the trip is go eat, although we don't usually admit that out loud.   There are good places to eat closer to home, too, but there is something really special about a trip to great place that requires extra effort to get to.  Anyway, we have had lots of special days hanging out, enjoying being together, and enjoying food in Oklahoma City.  I often joke that when we head up I-44 to OKC, I am always drooling by the time we get to the second toll booth.  

The glory of food also has it down-side also, as all of us who fight in the Battle of the Bulge can readily attest.  There are some foods that reduce my will power to zero.  Examples include chocolate cake, brownies, home-made chocolate-chip cookies, and apple pie.  When those are around, more often than not, I become a guy who just cain't say no, and I indulge to excess.  Usually, I do best by avoiding those treats completely.  However, sometimes there is nothing better than losing the fight with my sweet tooth.

We have a saying in the Fouse family: Food is love. It's true. I love you, so I feed you. Sharing food with others strengthens the bonds between us and builds new memories for the future. Food nourishes not only our bodies; it nourishes our souls.