|
||||
|
In August of 2006, we took my oldest son to college, a double-edged moment, that act of giving my first child to the world. No doubt, in his own mind, he had long shed the need of my shelter, asking my advice out of kindness or momentary indecision, following it only when it reaffirmed his own inclination.
This is my child who declared he wished he could dispense with food and its rituals altogether, condensing them into the shape of a pill he could swallow and be done with. But as life has opened its arms to him, guiding him through England and Portugal this summer, I have noticed a broadening of interest: Sushi bars. Clams and mussels. Thick, rare steaks. I thought it would never come. Such is the nature of experience, and I was pleased to in his school’s dining hall that, instead of the cafeteria line I remembered from college days that prided itself on the exotic addition of a salad bar, Trinity offered food stations with a semblance of a world view—from Mexican to Asian; comfort and soul food to deli-standards; a crisp, bright vegetarian bar; a pasta bar. I was impressed. |
I have told my sons what my mother told me—Food is hospitality. Food is kindness. Try the foods of other countries when offered, even if they seem foreign. Give people an opening to be your friend, and, in so doing, create memories. We can’t always travel in this world. But we can sit down in the evening shadows with candlelight, a glass of red wine and a deeply satisfying layering of lasagna. We can retrace a trattoria in Italy or the wharfside restaurants of northern California.
We can feast on coconut curries rich with shrimp and lemongrass and dream of exotic locales reachable only through food. The satiny finish of triple cream cheese on a crusty baguette with summer’s late figs, and I’m on a train through the French countryside. Food is a form of bridging distance, of education, of friendship. It is the world reaching out to itself, establishing identity through memory. And these days, good memories are one of the best forms of travel I know. |
|||
