Being in this business, I am always amazed at the degree of pickiness and arrogance people exhibit around their food choices. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the need for caution if you happen to be one of those unfortunate people who will have airways seize up and die as a result of a true, full blown food allergy!! I am just sick and tired of people treating food as “right” not a “priviledge”!
Last evening we had the pleasure of catering for a group of 40 European guests (including I might add, a 9 year old boy who did not sit at the table aimlessly glued to a video game in his lap, or running amock! Not once did he pull up his nose at the plate put before him. It was always polished off with delight!). As is often the case with these types of events, we prepare a set menu. More often than not, even after repeated requests to be advised of any food allergies and/or dietary restrictions, we have someone creep out of the crowd to annouce that they are “allergic” to some pretty central element of the menu. It drives me mad!! I would be willing to bet that 99% of the time, it’s not an “allergy” but a plain and simple “dislike”. Who among us with a life threatening “allergy” would wait until the 11th hour to announce immiment death?
Now back to our guests. Amazingly, not one person had an “allergy”. Not one person pulled up their nose at any of the ingredients – no boneless, skinless chicken breast menu this! Instead we were treated to an evening where our guests relished the food we prepared and thanked us for preparing it. I can’t help thinking that there is a correlation between where our guests came from and their approach to food. Afterall, in most parts of the world outside the North American continent food is expensive …AND it’s not that many generations of memory cells removed from tales and experiences of true food deprivation and hunger. Maybe the dark years of deprivation during the two great wars of the 20th century still loom in the memory banks of Europeans – hard wired for posterity in every generation. Maybe they just know much better how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
I am sick and tired of arrogance and simple pickiness around food. I see it more often than I would like to admit! We should be grateful that we have access to such an abundance of good quality and healthy food to choose from. Furthermore, we don’t have to scrounge around to source it… AND we don’t have to sacrifice half a paycheck to put food on our table. There is also something so incredibly self-centered about making such a production about what one will and won’t eat. It becomes all about me, such a regretable North American trait. It also simply smacks of bad manners. Where are the days when invited to a dinner party one would politely consume the meal prepared by one’s gracious hostess? Now, more often than not, dinner invitations are accepted with a mention (or warning?) of what one won’t eat. It’s just wrong!
Let’s try and take a step back to a time when food on a table was not a given but a blessing!
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