18/11/2025
A Time to Eat
"I just want to eat, check it of my to do list, and get back to more “important” tasks.”
Really?
I have heard this surprising attitude several times.
Sitting down to a nourishing home cooked meal is not trivial. Much time and energy is required to accomplish this feat. And meals are an opportunity to communicate, forge connections and build trust. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t cook every day and I don’t advocate it. With modern refrigeration and freezers, it is possible to plan ahead and avoid the healthy short order cook predicament.
Eating out and ordering home deliveries are options, although food choices have to monitored closely to ensure that they are as healthy as possible.
Saying a prayer or intention expressing gratitude and/or what fueling your body with essential foods means to you is also an opportunity to elevate the significance of a meal.
In the Torah portion Re’eh, Rabbi Soloveitchik compares the Jewish way of eating to the Greek norm. (Re’eh 14:23).
“And you shall eat before the Lord, your God...so that you may learn to revere the Lord you God.”
He writes: “The animalistic behavior of eating upon which man’s life depends, has been refined by the halacha (Jewish law) and transformed into a religious ritual and an elevated moral act.”
Fueling our bodies with nourishing, tasty meals is an important task. Our days are brimming with activity and sometimes it’s enticing to put meal prep and eating on a lower rung.
Let’s avoid this and give meal prep and eating the blocks of time they deserve.
Our health depends on it.
