BREAKFAST: 2 blueberry muffins. grapefruit
LUNCH: diet pepsi, carrots. muffin
DINNER: black beans and rice and crab rangoon. sauted peppers and onions.
ORIGIN OF ONE ITEM: Rice
It is the grain with the third-highest worldwide production, after corn and wheat, according to data for 2009.[1] on Wikipedia. There’s no getting around I don’t know where this comes from. It’s grown from all over. I think this rice came from China. The rest is conjecture.
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
Religion of Consumption
In 1955, American economist Victor Lebow wrote: “Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.”
There is always more to know, more to learn. Today, it’s easy to cram the brain so full I almost feel it hurting. I get fatigued by the barrage of facebook, twitter, books, flyers, conversations and music. My mind starts to reject everything. I just need a break. Often this comes in an activity of mindlessness, like shopping or eating or reality TV (talk about mindless).
Yet paradoxically these are also consuming acts. Are we today so overwhelmed, overstimulated, that we cannot help but be converted to this religion of consumption?
Rice is a staple, and for me it's the Rodney Dangerfield of carbs. (no respect, no respect) It can be downright boring to me, trained to eat lots of color, cook with spices, and always have ketchup (or sriracha!) handy. Yet without rice, my meal is pretty incomplete. Can you imagine eating stir-fry without rice? I eat it so thoughtlessly, but it’s like a sabbatical for my overstimulated tastebuds. It is the all-important “carbohydrate vessel,” as one friend put it.
The cool thing about the rice’s respite function is that our bodies adjust accordingly to the stimuli we provide. So your senses literally become more able to be alive again when given a break. Nerves are given rest. So when you take your next bite o’ curry, your sensory engagement is able to undergo the same change as your first bite. You re-live it. Rice gives us this opportunity.
What food for you do you take for granted? What thing in your life offers your senses rest or renewal, but maybe you've thought of as unexciting?
Erika
Much of this post is indebted to Lutherans Restoring Creation.
LUNCH: diet pepsi, carrots. muffin
DINNER: black beans and rice and crab rangoon. sauted peppers and onions.
ORIGIN OF ONE ITEM: Rice
It is the grain with the third-highest worldwide production, after corn and wheat, according to data for 2009.[1] on Wikipedia. There’s no getting around I don’t know where this comes from. It’s grown from all over. I think this rice came from China. The rest is conjecture.
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
Religion of Consumption
In 1955, American economist Victor Lebow wrote: “Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.”
There is always more to know, more to learn. Today, it’s easy to cram the brain so full I almost feel it hurting. I get fatigued by the barrage of facebook, twitter, books, flyers, conversations and music. My mind starts to reject everything. I just need a break. Often this comes in an activity of mindlessness, like shopping or eating or reality TV (talk about mindless).
Yet paradoxically these are also consuming acts. Are we today so overwhelmed, overstimulated, that we cannot help but be converted to this religion of consumption?
Rice is a staple, and for me it's the Rodney Dangerfield of carbs. (no respect, no respect) It can be downright boring to me, trained to eat lots of color, cook with spices, and always have ketchup (or sriracha!) handy. Yet without rice, my meal is pretty incomplete. Can you imagine eating stir-fry without rice? I eat it so thoughtlessly, but it’s like a sabbatical for my overstimulated tastebuds. It is the all-important “carbohydrate vessel,” as one friend put it.
The cool thing about the rice’s respite function is that our bodies adjust accordingly to the stimuli we provide. So your senses literally become more able to be alive again when given a break. Nerves are given rest. So when you take your next bite o’ curry, your sensory engagement is able to undergo the same change as your first bite. You re-live it. Rice gives us this opportunity.
What food for you do you take for granted? What thing in your life offers your senses rest or renewal, but maybe you've thought of as unexciting?
Erika
Much of this post is indebted to Lutherans Restoring Creation.
I eat a lot of rice. I love rice! Somehow it serves as ballast for my body and for my soul. The soul part I can't quite explain. The body part is the flavor (I mostly eat brown rice, and, when I feel like I can splurge, black rice), the texture, the density, and the fact that it settles well with almost anything else. I like lentils and rice, beans and rice, dried cranberries or dried apricots and rice, hamburger and rice, chicken and rice, rice and rice.....
ReplyDeleteI've also discovered an affinity for steel-cut oats. I've pretty much always been a fan of rolled (not quick or instant) oats, but steel-cut oats has become a out my favorite breakfast. Add dried fruit, cinnamon, maybe a little honey (after it's cooked to hold onto some of the goodies in the honey), and it just starts the day well.
Whole grains are much underrated. Additional seed-like goodies are barley, millet (yup, folks, birdseed!), triticale (hard to find--its a rye and wheat hybrid), quinoa......
Grains form the foundation of my diet.
kathi, i definitely didn't read this until after i wrote my post on oats!
ReplyDeleteabby
erika, lovc the ketchup reference. makes me think of evan! haha. and grandma: "catsup". I can't really think of one food that I eat all the time that I take for granted but I agree with you when you say that eating and social media stuff can become so mindless and a habit...and yet I become frustrated with these things. they shouldn't be frustrating though. should take more time to think about these things. thanks.
ReplyDelete