I highly recommend this article titled, 'How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life'. The writer doesn't just rail against fast-food restaurants, but stresses the importance of 'the ecology of eating', which includes knowing what foods you eat, preparing the various dishes, and enjoying it together as a family.
I particularly found the Family Dinner suggestion to be on-point, especially since we practice all the suggested guidelines in our own home:
"Reinstate the Family Dinner
Read Laurie David's "The Family Dinner". She suggests the following guidelines: Make a set dinnertime, no phones or texting during dinner, everyone eats the same meal, no television, only filtered or tap water, invite friends and family, everyone clean up together."
The institution of the family dinner that we saw as recent as a generation ago, is slowly withering away. Eating a meal is now seen as a biological function that is more efficiently carried out with a 'quick bite', as opposed to the more time-consuming family dinner that places everyone's life on a collective 'pause' and presents us with an amazing social opportunity and family-bonding experience.
Savoring the company of one's family over a meal is infinitely more valuable than savoring the meal itself. Unfortunately, the utilitarian mindset that is overtaking the world prevents us from appreciating this fact.
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6 hours ago
4 comments:
I didn't read the article, but I agree with the idea of how sitting down to eat together has become rare - to our detriment. One reason is that sometimes family members - young people especially - want to express their individuality and independence by doing things on their own; APART from the rest of the family. And with so many distractions and activities available - from the Internet to cell phones, TV, movies, sports and more - it's easy for them to say they're busy with something else, and: "I'll eat when it suits me."
I think the insitituion of a family dinner every day - with no distractions and no absentees - is something that has been eroded away, and for us to bring it back, we need to put a great deal of planning and continuous effort so that we re-establish it in our homes.
Just like losing it can happen out of bad habits (e.g. letting everyone go off and do their own thing, and eat when it's convenient for them) - we need to instill GOOD habits so that it becomes second nature to us.
I find it odd and interesting how many of our norms and conventions that were crticised and ridiculed - like eating together as a family and child discipline - has suddenly been established as "good" for society as a whole. Makes one realise that maybe we've done ourselves a huge disservice by deviating from tradition - how else can we explain the almost global social degradation we're facing...
AA-
@DL, Good point on young people wanting to express their individuality. And thus the onus falls even moreso on the parents to avoid the easy way out by letting everyone eat on their own. I admit that its a daily struggle to have a family dinner, but one that is very much worth it!
@Azra, excellent point! Indeed I often find myself looking back on 'tradition' and the ways of my forefathers wistfully. Very strange times we live in...very strange.
Assalamu alaikum Brother good to see some posts from you again! Like everyone above already eloquently stated, family dinners are just one of those important "traditions" that now people realize had so many benefits attached to them.
And about inviting the friends and family part, in my house I try to have my friends over at least once every two weeks and we each cook a dish to share amongst ourselves and our kids and it's a wonderful thing to do we all enjoy eating together especially the kids. And sometimes kids who are fussy eaters won't mind eating with their friends around so it's win-win all around!
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