Food is Life

Food is the center of every Filipino gathering. Coming from a line of cooks in our family, it’s inevitable that I too would become a “good cook” at least according to my husband, family and friends who have savoured my homemade foods. I never got to ask my Amang (grandpa) if his dad or grandparents also enjoyed cooking. My fondest memories of cooking is through my Amang. I vividly remember my grandpa cooking delicious meals out of penny pinched ingredients and making do with what we had available. These were especially true during typhoons and severe weathers that prevented us from safely going to the market and stores to get groceries and other essential items. My mentality on “making do with what you have” has been ingrained rooting from this childhood experience.

I actually know what it feels like to starve, to be so hungry I would beg for food from our neighbours and friends. I felt like an “Ulila” which means Orphan.

Food has become both a problem and a source of love and enjoyment for me. I tend to have traumatic triggers to food and addiction during my depressive states… Now I choose to anchor my views on the fact that food is sacred and it is meant to sustain and nourish this vessel that is my body. To heal ailments, dis ease and discomfort that I feel when I am misaligned with my health.

During one of my guided meditations on insight timer, I came across this part where they talked about choosing foods that are nourishing and Intelligent. Foods that are so smart that they grow, make fruits and have the power to heal the body. Foods that are not made in the factory or are processed.

This has changed my view on food so greatly that I always use this as an analogy example to my kids when they need a reminder about choosing the right foods and snacks to eat.