Foodie: To Be or Not to Be

What is a foodie? Is it someone who loves to eat or someone who loves food?

I suppose that I'm both.  I love to eat.  I love food.

Food has been my friend all my life.  It has comforted me when I was sad.  

I always went for the fresh baked bread and butter! That was my favorite treat as a child.  Give me a cold glass of water with that and I was in heaven.  Simple. I remember my grandmother telling me that I would do well in jail since all I ate was jail food. (dry bread and water)

Food reminded me that I was fortunate.  If I didn't eat all the food on my plate I was reminded of all the starving children in Africa.  To this day, I have a hard time walking away from a plate of food.

Food was never to be scorned or wasted.  It was a sin!  I would live in fear that I would never have anything to eat if I scorned the food on my plate and so I ate it.  All of it! 

Food always has had a special place in my memories.  My first Thanksgiving dinner.  Our family was finally reunited after years of separation. My sister, brothers and I, had just come to the United States to join our parents in our new home and new Country.  All the other family members who were already living in the US came over to our home.  The food preparation was beyond anything I experienced.  Mom was cooking and preparing for days.  She made so many different dishes, we were over excited by the different foods and smells.   Our tables were heavy with food.  Glorious Food.  Mom's good cooking and Auntie's good baking.  If I close my eyes I can almost smell the food cooking in the kitchen and see the table overflowing with goodness!

Food never disappointed me in school when I was studying and needed a quick pick me up.  Nor did it leave me for dead when I was a new mom and wife in a home that wasn't my own.  

Food comforted me when my husband left me because I was fat and no longer skinny.  Food loved me then and it hugged my body tightly so tight it wouldn't let any of my clothes fit.  

And Food was there for every celebration and sad song I sang throughout my life.

And now! Years later! I want to understand food?  Really?

I've managed to eat my way to obesity and am not sure how or when it happened.  I do know it didn't happen overnight.  So, I can't expect to understand my addiction overnight either.

The purpose of this blog is to understand the role food has played in my life.  In doing so I hope to find my way back to "Me."  I've had food as my companion through life's journey and somewhere along the road Food became more important than I was and somehow I lost me as the focus and Food became my everything.

Food got me here! Darn it! it's going to get me out!

~ Cherry