First Short Essay

WRIT 1133

Gabe Ellison

Eric Leake

Food: The Sustenance for Our Lives

Food is a vital part of everyone’s life; not only because it is needed for survival but because of the way it makes us feel. The food in our lives changes while we change, so food can be a defining thing in our lives. Our love of food is influenced by many things, but the major ones for me are the personal, social, and familial influences.

One of the greatest parts of food is that it affects everyone in different ways. Everyone has a different taste for food. We all have our specific foods that we love, and we also have those foods that we can’t stand. For me my favorite food is seafood. I don’t know if it’s the connection that seafood and vacation have for me or just a general love for its taste. When it comes to the foods that I hate, the two things that create my distaste are a general dislike for the taste and an unpleasant consistency.

My main personal connections with food are with the satisfaction of hunger, enjoyment of amazing foods, and cure of boredom.  Everyone needs to eat food to stay alive; if we go too long without eating we get hungry, and the only way to get rid of this is to eat food.  Eating great tasting food can be one of the most enjoyable things in life. An amazing meal can make you satisfied as well as happy. A large part of the food that I eat is eaten out of boredom. For me eating is very entertaining, especially if the food is particularly delicious. This can be bad because it often causes me to eat unhealthy foods such as candy.

One of the biggest influences food has on life is the way that we interact socially with it. Much of the time that we spend with other people involves food. And who better to spend time with than your friends. When I first came to the University of Denver, food was a big part of me meeting people. I didn’t know anyone before coming here, so that was very important. Early in my first quarter I was able to find people around my floor who wanted to go grab food at the dining hall. This sprung a few friendships that allowed we to gain the confidence to meet more people. I was also the only person on my floor that had a car, so I was able to find food off campus and could bring people with me as well. As the year has gone along I eat most of my meals with friends. I go eat fast food with my guy friends, and I go to the cafeteria with the girls from my floor. I have even started habits of going to certain places with certain friends. For example, every time that I want to get a burger I go to Smashburger with my friend Gracie. This has made Smashburger something of a college staple for me. Food has been a great way for me to connect with people here at college, and it has given me a great sense of belonging.

My family is probably my greatest influence in both my taste for food and the memories tied to them. My parents were the people that fed me for the first eighteen years of my life. This along with my genetic predispositions for taste molded the way that I feel about food. Early in my life, my mom cooked almost every one of my meals because we did not have very much money; this created a love for fast food once we had the money to eat out more. Throughout my life there have always been foods that my parents have forced me to eat foods I didn’t like because they were good for me. Without them I would be the unhealthiest person of all time!

When I reminisce about things in my life there is always a different food tied to a different part of my life. One of the biggest connections I have is macaroni and cheese with my dad. My parents divorced when I was three years old, so I have split time between my mom’s and my dad’s houses ever since. In the beginnings of my time with my dad we lived alone without a woman to help with the cooking or cleaning. This meant that my dad had to cook for us quite a bit. He did not have very much experience with cooking so most of the meals he cooked for us were very simple. The most common of these foods was macaroni and cheese. At first he would just make macaroni and cheese, but as he became better at cooking he added more things to the meal. The greatest combination was macaroni and cheese and grilled salmon. This meal has become a staple in life with my dad, and he continues to make it even though he has now been remarried for the last 10+ years.  Even though I have had this meal hundreds of times throughout my life I still love. So much so that I make macaroni and cheese at college and I use my dad’s recipe.

In life there are not many things that are more important than food. Although it does not seem incredibly special most of the time because it is something we do every day. It is essential because it keeps us alive, gives us enjoyment, and forms many lifelong connections with people. I know that when I take a closer look at my life I can see its great importance to me, especially in the personal, social, and familial aspects of my life.