The power of food

Whilest I ate breakfast this morning, listening as usual to Radio 4, Mishal Husain a BBC presenter gave what I felt to be a fantastic tribute to her friend Jon Leyne, the war reporter who died earlier this week from a brain tumour. Mishal shared his Lime and Lemongrass chicken recipe. I am rarely effected by news of someone famous dying but this particular tribute made me stop, listen,smile and brought a tear to my eye. I didn't really know who Jon Leyne was but, I did think what a wonderful way to be remembered. That recipe will be followed by many, no doubt shared with friends and families and he will be remembered by people taking part in one of my favourite pastimes eating.

I love sharing a meal, as a family we almost always eat dinner together and this time is full of sharing news, debating opinions sometimes involving laughter, raised voices even the slamming of doors. Last night I shared a meal with some of the girls from a Fitball class I attend, we are all such different  characters from very different walks of life yet Fitball introduced us to each other and we ate chorizo and chicken one pot followed by summer berries washed down with vino, chatter and laughter followed by poor choice of movie "A Song for Marion" I couldn't even consider wearing my contact lens this morning because my eyes were still swollen following the weeping this film provoked.

Then today we had a barbecue with some of the family 15 in total, each family group bringing food chicken satay, colourful couscous salads amazing desserts like chocolate and strawberry cheesecake and banoffee  pie to add to the lamb chops, sausages and array of salads. We had prosecco, pink fizz, juice and coke bottles with our names on. We don't get together very often but a shared meal seems to   link us together encouraging us to share our lives with us finishing the day with promises of get togethers in the future.

Many of the friends and family we are lucky to have seem to share this love of meeting and eating. It seems that sharing a meal around a table or a picnic blanket builds friendship, trust and love.


I guess there is a lot of truth in the saying "the family that eats together stays together"