Table Talk

Who I like to eat with depends on where I am and what I’m hungry for. By hungry I don’t just mean hungry for food, but hungry for company, or discussion, or solitude. When I’m at school and I want to have dinner in the dinning hall the first person I call if my friend Virginia. She knows how to make a meal great, even if the food isn’t. She always has a good story to tell and is excited to hang out and make the evening entertaining. I can’t say that I ever really enjoy the food in the dinning hall, but somehow it’s not as bad when with good company.

Sometimes instead of a person, I like to eat with a book. A book is great company for me at my kitchen table while eating leftovers for lunch. Instead of talking to someone in particular I live vicariously through someone else’s story for a while. It doesn’t matter what I’m eating as long as the book is good I will hardly notice what is on my plate. One of my favorite things to do is to get up around 11am on a Sunday morning in my parents house, head out into the empty kitchen, make brunch, and sit for hours at the end of the table reading. A book is one of my best food companions.

I love to sit and eat with my mom. It doesn’t matter where, it could be at home on the couch or at the table, or it could be out in the booth of a restaurant. I like to share food and talk with her. Over the years my mom and I have become close. It helps that I’m not a rebellious teenager anymore trying to defy her. Instead we both present our problems to each other and help one another work them out. Or we share in our joys and accomplishments. My mom and I have become friends of a sort. We enjoy one another’s company.

I love watching or helping my mom cook. We spend a lot of time in each other’s presence while preparing food. We both can find cooking or baking relaxing so it’s a wonderful way for us to unwind, eat some of the scraps, and be together.

My younger brother has finally reached the stage where he doesn’t really despise me anymore. Sometimes we can even be friends. When he is stressed at school or upset for some reason, or just needs a bigger sister I love to take him out for dinner. He amazes me all the time with the things he does and accomplishes. Sometimes the conversation can lull for a while but it’s always a comfortable silence. My brother is someone I can eat with just so we both have company. While we have our quarrels occasionally we know that in the long run we’re people in one another’s lives who will be there no matter what. It’s sharing food with a pseudo-friend who will love you unconditionally.