**I’m home with the boys on a snow day and I got to thinking…This is a photo of yummy summer food**
Is a meal a piece of toast gobbled down while driving to work?
Is a meal a replacement shake popped open and drunk at an office desk?
Is a meal a simple summer snack of a fresh tomato, mozzarella slice, and one basil leaf?
Is a meal an apple eaten during a 15 minute break in the back room of the Gap?
Is a meal a bowl of cereal slurped down at dinnertime in front of the TV?
Is a meal a bowl of popcorn at a movie?
Is there a right answer?
I have firm ideas about meals. For me, a meal is an well-planned intention to prepare food and place the food in a meal like position. I’ve had popcorn and a beer at the computer, so I could read for the evening. This means that I plan my compute and popcorn date. I set a beautiful placemat and napkin at the computer and use a portion controlled bowl for delivery of the popcorn.
As I write this, I get a sense that I believe a meal must be a ritualized event. If I were home on a snow day with the kids, I might make a picnic lunch on the floor, using a summer table cloth and the camping dishes.
For the holidays, I had a guest who suggested to me that a meal is not a meal unless everyone in the house has a hand at the meal preparations. She stayed a few extra days and we did not go out to the grocery store for more meal items. Instead, we explored leftovers and together made an excellent pot of vegetable soup. With sourdough bread and a cabbage slaw, that was the best meal of the entire holiday season. Of course I used some hearty old placemats, rugged & frayed napkins and the old dinged-up soup spoons. THAT WAS A MEAL!
Hello,
I read your blog about „What is a meal? “and I really like it. I am going to be a nursery school teacher in less than one year and I’m looking forward to work with children. An also very important point for me is healthy food. More and more children snack on unhealthy food; I already saw chips or sweets. Most children don’t know what is healthy. And even more and more children don’t know what a real meal is.
For me a real meal is a healthy adequate nutrition. But what means that? I think people need a warm food one time a day. My stomach feels very bad when I don’t have my warm food at noon. In this time it is very important, that the meal is adequate. It should contain a lot of nutritions and they should also be high in fibre. When you consider these you can be better concentrate and you will be older. 😉 It is very important for your body, he can better grow. And yes he also grows when you aren’t a child!
An also very important point I think is the time. You should not eat a piece of toast while driving to work, you should not eat an apple during a 15 minute break in the back room. Nowadays people ever be stressed, they haven’t time to eat in a relaxed atmosphere. They go to McDonalds, Burgerking or KFC. It has to go fast, what the body needs is sausage.
The worst thing I think is to eat in front of the TV. When you do that stop it! As the time went by you don’t know how much you have eaten. You can’t control it.
Your last question is very difficult, what is the right answer for “What is a meal?”. From person to person this is different. The one people think a meal with wholemeal products is good, the other people think McDonalds is the best. But what your body needs is the most important thing!
I’m looking forward to read your opinion.
Best wishes from Austria
Katharina