Foodie Family

It has often been said that food tastes better with family and I have found this to be true.  Shared experience with food always makes the moment memorable.  We all love to celebrate, and so often it is done around the dinner table.  Special meals, cakes and restaurants all have stories to tell and of course, if there is a picture we will remember it easier and in more detail.  In the words of Luciano Pavarotti, “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”  Even a regular meal can turn into a celebration if the right people and food are involved.

My family know my love for taking snaps of anything edible, so when the food arrives at the table, they automatically sit back and let me click away.  This hobby is now a way of life, something I do automatically, and I love that my family have embraced it.

We recently went to a special restaurant, Zest, just outside of Nelspruit, to celebrate a couple of family birthdays.  The Chef always does beautiful plating, so it was such a pleasure to snap away at the dishes.

I am of Italian descent, and huge dinners around the table at my Gran’s house were a common occurrence when I was growing up.  The meals were always the backdrop for heated discussions, announcements, festivities and laughter.

My Aunt tells the story of how my Grandfather was explaining something one day while eating and as he was gesturing wildly, some grapes flew out his hand and landed in my Gran’s soup.  She was so angry with him, but the incident has been a favourite story of mine ever since I heard it because even though I was too young to remember,  it depicted exactly what family meals are all about.  Talking, laughing, arguing and sharing life with real emotion.  The meals brought us together.  They were the reason we got to communicate, bond and make memories.  Some of our favourite family photo’s are group ones taken after a meal at my Gran’s house.

As Oscar Wilde said, “After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.”