Comfort and Danger
(by Melanie Fraser Hart)
For many people, food is thought of as the “glue” that keeps families together, like the kind of bountiful dinners on classic TV shows. I did not grow up in a household where food was nurturing. Family dinners were awkward. There was no banter, no teasing, little conversation. My father ate especially quickly. We all did. It was almost like we couldn’t wait to remove ourselves from the table. We were probably all thinking: Let’s get out of this odd, speechless situation.
But while we were at the table, there was a mixed message: “Eat what’s on your plate,” with an underlying “Not too much or you’ll get fat.”