A conversation with Jean Torné in terms of food
The ‘centre’ arises from several questions and distinctions and various concentric circles develop from there:
1. Does the food that I am eating serve my purpose in life?
A labourer has different needs than a secretary, a student, a musician or a pop star. Besides at different times of our life we need different foods – a student dealing with exams eats more energetic foods than a student in an ordinary situation.
2. Does the food that I am eating nourish me?
In other words, what is the difference between feeding and nourishing?
I feed a machine called my body but I nourish the vehicle* that my body is; I nourish my emotions, (the sensuality of foods) I nourish the cells of my body so they can go about and interconnect holistically, I feed my cells with fuel – sugar/fats – and they just have to burn it (or store it), I feed my animal nature but I nourish my humanness – in the conviviality that eating food provides – So the act of eating covers the biological needs, the emotional needs, provides a social context in which via language I distinguish my humanity; It also permits my brain to function as the brain is very sugar and fat dependent. It makes me feel happy or sick. Nourishing covers all the spectrum of the experience of eating while feeding limits my experience to satiety or merely covers my biological needs. (protein, carbs, fat)
*In Buddhism the body is the vehicle of consciousness
3. What is my relationship to food?
Is it based on belief? What have I been told by my parents, my doctor, my church? Is it based on science? I know that I need my proteins, my vitamins, my sugar, my fats in so and so proportions; but is it based on reaction? eg. “I cannot stand carrots, I hate them, my mum was obsessed by them and stuffed me and my sister with the bloody things”; is it based on survival? “I better eat lots now in case I cannot buy any more food tomorrow”; is it based on greed? Is it based on emotional deprivation? “Since no one loves me I will eat 3 chocolate cakes”; is it based on freedom? – from fear to greed, from belief to mood somersaults – Could we have a relationship with food which is based not on fear or reaction but on appreciation? Gratitude, Love, Pleasure.
4. Is this food ‘food’?
Here we can keep it simple and list a series of criteria which defines food as food.
– Has this food been grown on healthy soil?
– Has this animal (that I am about to eat) been fed with food?
– Does this food have integrity? Is it whole? Is it a natural food which has been processed to a certain degree – like oil – or just an artifact? – like industrial margarine?
– How has this food been cooked?
– Who prepared it or cooked it?
– Which population eats this food?
5. What is my commitment to my wellbeing?
Do I have enough relatedness to myself to care and grow rather than to stagnate and shrink?
6. What is the food of a human being?
Does this food make me more human or does it keep me closer to the animal world? Or even to the world of machines? These questions are important as they constitute the context in which we establish our relationship to food, eating and cooking and their asking should underline our choice when we buy food, when we eat out, when we eat at friend’s houses, when we are confronted with health problems. They should determine our choices rather than some diet, some cravings, some fear, some social agreement.
