Most people only give thanks for their food during their Thanksgiving (or other holiday) meals. It’s usually done as an afterthought.
My question is why is being thankful for the food on our plate part of our daily routines? Why is it something reserved for Thanksgiving?
To me this is another example of how disconnected we’ve become from our food source. Thanksgiving is usually a time when friends and families congregate together to be thankful for each other. Giving thanks for the food is done as a, “Oh yea thanks for this food too.”
The feasts that are set out on our tables likely contain ingredients that have been compiled and traveled from all over the world. Let’s not mention what has happened to them during their journey – between the hormones in the turkeys and the sprays on the veggies. (Ok, so I mentioned it)
Giving thanks for food is an act that has been all but lost. I’m not saying that it should be a religious thing because I am far from religious.
What I am saying is that the food that sits on most of our tables, we have come to take for granted. We have no connection to it, nor understand the true importance of it. It’s just there and we expect it to be there on a daily basis.
One of the great parts about Thanksgiving is that it brings friends and families together to share food and enjoy each others company. For most, it’s a great time to kick back and relax from the daily grind.
That celebration and sharing of food is something that shouldn’t be reserved solely for holidays. Food is communal. It brings people together.
So this Thanksgiving when you are sitting around the table be sure to give thanks for your food. The next day give thanks for it again before you eat. Do the same the day after that.
You know what else you should also start to do? Grow some of your own. Just one plant and you’ll become much more appreciative and have a better connection with the food that’s on your table.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EbZMhr-Iok
I’m not religious either, but I do find it interesting that every religion that I know of includes or encourages a pre meal prayer of thanks for the food for every meal, every day. Something that seems to get lost in our modern world.
Yes because we takes it for granted.
Touche’ I agree~ nice beard 😉
I agree, Mike. Giving thanks is something we forget to do all too often. We give thanks for our meals, for the foods growing in the garden and the opportunity to share our blessings with others. Nice post.
Nice Julie. Thanks for sharing.
I am not religious but I am spiritual…giving thanks for food, especially food that is fruit of ‘thine labor’, is essential in completing the circle. Not only for the food should thanks be given, but for all good/bad life circumstances we should shout out a bit of thanks because it all gives us a learning curve, and a provision for teaching/sharing with someone else… as Mike just did with us.
That’s what it’s all about teaching and sharing with others.