Homemade is the Best

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis

Food has always been a rock-solid foundation in my family.  I have memories of my mom killing a chicken in the front yard, singeing, and plucking the feathers.  She thin-sliced her homemade noodles and hung them on the back of a kitchen chair to dry until they were ready to cook.  The tradition of home cooking was passed to my siblings and me and then to my three daughters.  No more killing the chicken, but mealtimes are important. According to Dr. Gary Chapman’s book, it certainly is one of the Love Languages!  It is not only food preparation but also sitting down at the table to eat together.  As I raised my children, it was a sacred time, and ball practice and school activities came second to our mealtime.  With my old-fashioned ideals, I feel my grandchildren may not get as much of that love language as I would like.  They are bombarded with activities!

What happens in an older person’s life when they have no one to eat with, no one to cook for, or when food preparation is impossible?  I see a real emptiness in this area of life.  Meals on Wheels is an excellent fix to the nutritional needs but is not a substitute for the sacred act of sharing a meal.  Those that move to traditional retirement facilities are required to go to a dining room where food is prepared in a commercial kitchen.  Even if the food is good, it lacks the smells and visuals of food preparation and the common family table.  The world of senior living is changing from institutional to small homestyle communities. These smaller senior homes, with a kitchen and a shared table, are a wonderful throwback to those precious memories that are filled with love, a language we can all speak!

After a good home-cooked dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives." Oscar Wilde