Eat It: Passing Reflection Number 2087

Yesterday I was in the grocery store picking up the makings for dinner when I ran into a friend. Her cart was full, almost certainly near the end of her visit to the store. She was poking through a display of frozen fish. I made some small noise about how people block aisles. She looked up at me, took that microsecond to place me out of context, smiled, walked around the carts and gave me a quick hug. And she made a passing remark about being noticed poking through packages of frozen fish. That’s it. After which she was off.

I came away fearing she was a tad uncomfortable with the encounter.

I then wondering if I was projecting…

And out of that I found myself thinking food thoughts, and how we relate to each other around food.

I know if I have to go to a restaurant by myself, I am careful to take a book. It feels passing strange to be alone in a restaurant. I’ve read where there’s some evolutionary connection to this common impulse, and somehow it’s connected to why the major exception is sweets, which no one seems, or hardly anyone seems to mind eating alone.

But, I’m also aware how I don’t like people looking into my cart when I’m shopping for food.

And, while I suspect, this does not have an evolutionary association, I do find it a pretty strong feeling.

I suspect it has to do with our decisions about what to eat. And our social connections. And assumptions everyone brings to the table, as it were…

Me, I’m an omnivore who thinks I should eat less dead animal.

Many friends assume I’m a vegetarian. Others believe I should be. And everyone agrees I should eat less…

I am in fact currently at a near high point in weight. Struggling with how best to address that issue. (Yes, eat less, exercise more. Thank you.)

So, all sorts of things fill that grocery cart and how I feel about it being looked into.

And, I wonder about the mysteries of human relationships.

How we relate to each other. Our assumptions about each other. 

And in particular how we relate to each other and to food at the same time.

And, what a mess that usually is…

No great wisdom, here.

Just an uncomfortable observation…