Food for Thought

I had a most interesting and entertaining burp the other day.

Long after I had consumed my modest little banana sandwich for lunch, but mere moments after a swig of icy cold Coke™, I was blessed with the belches (soda sadly always has that effect on me). For a change, instead of having gas with some unpleasant palate there was quite the unusual and dare I say tasty combination of flavours of aforementioned banana with the undertones of that fizzy caffeine taste we know so well.

It’s not a partnership one would normally contemplate, and correct me if I’m wrong, but no one has come up with this one before. Which is kinda odd considering the amount of edible offerings there are in the world.

Humankind sure puts a lot of thought and effort into eating doesn’t it?

Think about all the restaurants, books, blogs, magazines, and TV shows on the topic. I mean to say: last night Australia set a new record in ratings for the final of Masterchef – an estimated 4 million+ Aussies watched (that’s about one-fifth of the population!). For some it’s almost a religious experience; how many times have we heard about the face of Christ or the Virgin Mary appearing on a toast, or tortilla, or taco somewhere (and subsequently seen selling on eBay)?! I for one am certain at least one of the corn chips in my nachos platter had more than a passing resemblance to a higher power (pity I didn’t make the connection before I chowed down, or my financial prayers might also have been answered, but there you go).

It’s true, food is one of the basic needs of life, and aside from that little necessity for our daily bread, it’s kinda hard to escape on a day-to-day basis. Every 2nd ad on TV is selling some kind of food, you can’t drive anywhere without seeing eating establishments or their signs promising faster tastier treats (now with even better value meal deals!), or feel the urge to detour via a drive-thru. It’s the universal language of love and loss (comfort food anyone?); and way, way before we were being asked if we’d like fries with that, mankind was preoccupied with the art of eating.

The French emperor Napoleon 1 recognised that “An army marches on its stomach.” (And not just because his own was so close to the ground, either.)

Confucius say “the way you cut your meat reflects the way you live” (what does it mean if you pick up the whole steak and just chew- which I have seen someone do- I wonder?)

Even Voltaire back in his day declared that “Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.” Hey, I’ll drink to that.

And who hasn’t heard the old chestnut 'the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach' (but did you know who said it first? Someone by the name of Fanny, apparently, which is also a proven method for attracting a male, if you know what I’m saying…)

Nearly all the top rating television shows are food based, or feature at least one scene per episode where the characters are gathered around the table... there’s always some gastronomically-inspired movie on the menu… you got celebrity chefs right up there with sports stars spruiking this, that, and the other… so is it any wonder that cookbooks on average outsell sex-books by about 3 to 1? (Which always reminds me of the wit who wrote how he replaced sex with food to the point where he can’t even get into his own pants anymore.)

Fair dinkum.

Now, just think that all this started because of an involuntary bodily reaction to my choice of fuel for the day.

And just like that mysterious yet contagious yawn factor, all this talk about food seems to have somehow got the grehlin going in my gut and I’m now feeling decidedly peckish. Best go see what other culinary combinations I can come up with before the Borborygmus brings the house down.

We’re out of bananas as it happens, but methinks there’s a little more Coke in the fridge.

Oh, and just quietly, if a new flavour of Coca Cola turns up on a refrigerator shelf near you, just remember, you heard it here first.


Jx
©2010