Food and Relationships

The Glue to All Relationships There is nothing that brings people closer together then a fantastic meal. Whether it is the recipe, the preparation, the taste, or authenticity, great relationships are built from the process of making food. Holiday traditions, historic traditions, and cultural traditions will bring anyone and everyone together. Food is not just for survival. Food is a way of expressing ourselves. It can express love and feelings towards love ones and even religion. There are those who are so passionate about cooking, that it seems all those around them learn to treat cooking as an art. Food can making relationships that are already formed by choice or by blood, even stronger. Sisters are an excellent example of a relationship that is truly magical. This sibling bond is best exemplified when Kate Delany describes her Sunday morning chats over breakfast with her sister in her poem “Ditching.” Delany says, “Our mother couldn’t understand or wouldn’t— we were hungrier than the Host, had things to talk over” (lines 8-10). This bond over their Sunday breakfast meant more to them than anything. Not even their mother could understand what those pancakes meant to them. It was not just about the food to them, it was about the topics of conversation. Delany goes on to mention some topics of things discussed each week such as a friend on drugs, a broke boyfriend, and even their little sister’s bad health (lines 10-12). This was not just a breakfast for them. This was a time when they would grow together and grow closer to one another. There are a lot of relationships out there that need a lot of work. Some may feel it is a bit cliché, but a relationship between a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law are not always so great. Some mothers of sons can be overbearing and maybe a few might think their son is too good for any woman who comes along. Then there is the story of Gabrielle and Alda Fuortes de Nitto. They have the relationship every daughter-in-law

Cited: Delany, Kate. “Ditching.” What’s Cooking? NY: Earth’s Daughters, 2009. Print. Hamilton, Gabrielle. Blood, Bones, and Butter. NY: Random House, 2011. 171-173. Print. O’Neill, Molly. “All Roads Lead to Mintz.” New York Times. 10 Oct. 1996. Print. Parker, Allison. “Saints, Cakes, and Redemption.” Best Food Writing 2011. Ed. Holly Hughes. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2011. Print.