Does food = entertainment?

August 27th, 2009

otherthanfood Does food = entertainment?

We don’t have cable. And for the most part I don’t care except I really love watching cooking shows on the Food Network. Sometimes at the gym I watch ‘em while I’m on the elliptical.

Anyway, this idea of food as entertainment has been coming up a lot lately. The Food Network is just an example. Another example is “Oh, haven’t seen you in awhile, why don’t we meet up for dinner?”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sharing a love of food, or sharing a meal. In fact, it’s a wonderful way to connect with people! But I have been to dinners where there is more eating than talking. And half of the talking has to do with the meal. I have been in situations, especially living in Boston, where social activity revolves around going to the newest restaurants and spending way too much on fancy drinks and dinner specials. Again, these aren’t bad things.

But it makes me wonder…when did food become entertainment?

Certainly our ancestors did not hunt and gather as a cute way to spend a Thursday evening. It was work! Stressful work at that! Chasing after a wild boar…now that’s a bit different than me settling into my chic tapas bar seat and ordering another sangria.

And before the industrial age, women in particular spent hours churning butter and baking bread just so the family could eat. Was that something they’d have wanted to watch on TV? Probably not because they didn’t have time to watch TV. They had to go wash clothes in the river or something. Yikes! So, it seems like the relative ease with which we obtain food has changed the way we relate to eating. For the better? Worse? I’m not sure, probably both.

So I have a question for all of you. How do you entertain yourself and spend time with friends/family in a way that DOESN’T revolve around food?

Food is wonderful, meals are a blessing, but surely there are OTHER ways to spend time together? Yes? No? One really big reason that this topic comes up in my life is because every time I hang out with friends it can mean dropping $100 on dinner and drinks. I really enjoy when we do other things together, for a change of pace and also to give my wallet a break. Maybe it’s the recession but now more than ever I feel it’s time to think outside the box!

Here are some ideas I have for non-food related activities:

Karaoke. Just do it! Go to a bar that has karaoke night or get a set to use at home with the kids. Super fun.

Lawn games rule. Everyone loves horseshoes, bocce, maybe croquet! Invest in a set and you’ll have years of people coming over to play.

Learn something. Sure, why not? Always wanted to tap dance? Learn to sew? Do yoga? There are lots of inexpensive classes available. And it’s way more fun to go with a friend.

Put on your strolling shoes. Walking is a free way to get exercise, meet up with friends and breathe some fresh air. I mean, even if you are just going to walk to the shop for ice cream…why not drive halfway there and walk the rest of the way?

Take in some culture. There are always these free exhibits going on that I never go to. Isn’t that silly? Make a date and go see the paintings hanging in your local museum, coffee shop or library. Take advantage of all the great events happening for free in your town. Like…duh!

Buy Park Place. I mean, who doesn’t love Monopoly? Enough said.

So what do you think? Are we just a teensy wee bit obsessed with artisanal olive oil and blooming onions in this country or what? What do you like to do with friends that doesn’t revolve around feeding your face?

pixel Does food = entertainment?

19 Comments Boston, frugal living, happiness, try new things

  • http://fresh365.blogspot.com fresh365

    These are great ideas. I have to say almost all the time I spend w/family or friends is based around food or cocktails!

  • http://www.fertilehealthy.com/blog Hanlie

    We have definitely become less social this past year… Instead of joining our families for Sunday lunches, we now visit after lunch for a few hours. Just as much fun!

  • http://loveprevails.wordpress.com Chelsea

    what about investing in a game? Apples to Apples and Scattagories are two that are very popular and so much fun. Invite even adult friends over with a bottle of wine and humor + little bursts of inappropriateness due to games assistance = a great night :-)
    Loved the reminder though of where eating evolved from, I too dont always want to go out in order to spend time with friends

  • http://openendedquestion.wordpress.com/ Alex

    Interesting topic…a couple of weeks ago, the NY times had a sort of related article, on the irony of food/cooking related shows being on the rise, yet cooking at home being on the decline…

    pooh! not in my house!

    in addition to walking lots, my bf and i like to look at google maps and figure out a nice, green neighbourhood to bike to. we love people watching, so sometimes just sitting on a bench in a different neighbourhood is surprisingly satisfying, and we can concoct all kinds of hypothetical life stories for the people that walk by.

    when i’m by myself, i like to make up all kinds of weird outfit combinations as i listen to my favourite music…haha, that’s kind of embarrassing!

    also, you have to be in the right mood for it, but sometimes having nothing to do is a great opportunity to clean and organize your house/apartment!

    anyway, thank GOD i don’t have to chase down a wildabeast for dinner tonight…

  • http://www.dancingaroundthekitchen.wordpress.com Erika

    With two small kids, who feels like sitting in a restaurant for too long anyway? Not us, so we end up staying home and playing baseball at Fenway under the lights (our front porch lights!) or indoors playing games on the Wii. The sports games keep us active and are so fun.

  • http://findyourbalancehealth.com Michelle

    @fresh365 – I think that’s true for many of us! Summer seems like a good time to get out and do something else.

    @Hanlie – that’s a good idea! skip the meal and go straight for the visiting part :-)

    @Chelsea – you know, my friends love Apples to Apples too. I think we’re going to bring it on vacation with us. Thanks for your comment!

    @Alex – ok, let’s see some photos of these weird outfit combos! haha and yes, I saw that article in the NYT and that’s part of what got me thinking about it, I guess. That, and some conversations I’ve had recently with my clients.

    @Erika – The Wii! How could I forget! We love ours, but never remember to play with just the two of us. It’s great for groups and kids of all ages, huh?

    And everyone, I’m surprised no one has said anything about the adorable little girls in the photo! Those are my cousins from a few years ago, they are much more grown up now but still completely adorable :-)

  • http://deliciouslyfit.com Lainie

    This is a wonderful question. In thinking about it, I think 90% of my gatherins with friends and family are food-related! I guess it’s just easy. If it isn’t food related, we’re usually shopping or playing games or something.

    Super cute little girls! Are they yours?

  • http://www.greenandchic.com/blog Carla

    We don’t have kids, but with our adult friends, we usually listen to music (my SO is a big audiophile so that can be for hours), play board games, go for hikes, walks and so on. If we spend hours with each other during the day and/or evening, food usually comes into play unless we want to starve. It doesn’t have to be the be all end all though though a few of us LOVE to cook!

  • http://www.fakefoodfree.com Lori

    Always a thought provoking topic. I think the fact that our gatherings revolve around food is rooted in many of our backgrounds. Many cultures around the world equate food with family and that is why we have so many great recipes! :) But somehow with the creation of quick cooking and fake foods our celebrations evolved from a healthy involvement of food to an unhealthy one where we focus on it too much or focus on foods that aren’t nourishing, healthy and homemade.

    I don’t think there is anything wrong with celebrating family and friends with food as long as it is the homemade version and we stop when we are full. On the other hand, I’m fortunate that most of my friends and I enjoy the coffee date versus a meal meet-up. Maybe it is because we are all on tight budgets. Ha, ha! The big spending at a meal out typically doesn’t happen.

    Our travel and site-seeing is how my husband and I spend time without food (although there is a lot of cultural food involved in that too!). I have friends who enjoy taking walks instead of eating. My family and I play a lot of games when we are together.

  • http://itzyskitchen.blogspot.com Erica

    Interesting topic! I enjoy doing physical activities with friends and family. Often times I will meet a friend at the gym for a class or we will go for a run/walk. Josh and I try to do different/ new activities like hiking, kayaking or rock climbing!

  • http://www.sugarcookiebrooklyn.com SCB

    How about movies with a friend!! I usually tell the friend that I plan to eat first and they should too. Then I can have a yogurt and some nuts at home or leftovers. I usually have an emergency snack bag of sorts with me at all times (I make them myself) so if I start having candy-envy at the movie, I can eat that, but usually just knowing it’s there is enough.

  • Elizabeth

    I actually like to invite friends over for dinner. I can usually make dinner for 4 for less than the price of two restaurant meals! Plus it’s just more relaxed, sitting around home and chatting. But it is interesting to see how people respond to this. Sometimes people love it. Other times when someone has suggested going to a restaurant, and I suggested they come over for dinner instead, they said no and acted like I was being a pain. It amazes me that even in this day and age, it is still a taboo (at least for some people) to admit that you are trying to save money. And that people are so bent on trying that hot new restaurant that they would rather have that than a home cooked meal. I guess I understand wanting to try the restaurant — I do like trying new places and new kinds of food — but couldn’t they go another time, without me? Getting together for dinner should be at least as much about the company as about the food.

  • Elizabeth

    P.S. Michelle, back in college I participated in a psychology study where they tested whether people who didn’t know each other were friendlier in the presence of food — and that turned out to be true. They separated participants into two groups, and left them to meet each other and make small talk, either with snacks or without. They found that people were far more outgoing in the presence of food — even if they didn’t eat any! Just having it there made a difference. So while I do love karaoke, movie dates, and taking long walks with friends, there is something special about food that gets us to relax and open up. I’m not ready to give up the shared meal as a fixture in my social life, but I do agree that some people become preoccupied with the food (or the expensive trendy setting) and lose sight of the fellowship.

  • http://www.myyoganutrition.com Skylor Powell

    I really like this post. It is also nice to consider the difference between eating at a restaurant as a form of entertainment vs cooking at home and eating as entertainment. I feel like eating has become what we do with our friends because we don’t feel like going home and cooking for ourselves and each other after a long day of work. Instead of having friends over and making a mess of the kitchen for entertainment, which cultivates a relationship between you, your friends, and the food, you go out and choose a few words on a menu that seem to be visually appealing, though we aren’t aware of the relationship that the food had with the cook behind the kitchen doors. I don’t know when we began treading these waters, but potlucks are an incredible way to bring food and entertainment together in a healthy way!

  • http://makefriendswithfood.blogspot.com/ Eleanor

    Thinking about how our ancestors spent so much of their time finding, growing, and preparing food, I wonder if humans are just hard-wired to think about food a lot. Even though we no longer have to lift a finger in order to eat, we still have all this energy that needs to go somewhere, so we watch cooking shows, read food magazines, and go out to trendy restaurants for entertainment.

  • Morgan

    I also read the Times piece by Michael Pollan, and was intrigued by his suggestion that the Food Network is more for eaters than those who like to cook. I’m not sure how true that is, since I also don’t have cable, but I can see his point. For me, cooking is so much less about the food or end result than it is about the learning process. I love to read recipes and cooking blogs and get in my kitchen and get my hands dirty, not to mention my counters, floor, stove, sink; that’s my kind of entertainment. Throw in a couple of friends to help chop, peel, stir and you have at least 45 minutes of good, clean (maybe not so clean) fun. I guess it still revolves around food in a sense, but not necessarily the eating part.

  • http://findyourbalancehealth.com Michelle

    @Lainie – oh, no, not my girls. I’m child free at the moment! It’s an old picture of my little cousins :-)

    @Carla – yes, please don’t starve! sounds like you’ve got some great interests and hobbies over there

    @Lori – a coffee date vs. a meal date. good idea for saving bucks for sure!

    @SCB – that’s a super idea. Why do dinner and a movie have to go together? Usually such crappy food around the movie theatres anyway. Applebee’s anyone?

    @Elizabeth – ooh, that’s a great comment about the study. It makes sense! But sure, why not have folks over for dinner instead of going out? Way cheaper and a nice personal touch. I’ll be over at 7:00. :-)

    @Skylor – Potlucks! Love it! I think we are beginning to see in these comments that there’s a big difference between eating out and eating in. The potluck idea blends the best of eating on the cheap and spending time with friends.

    @Eleanor – Well, you bring up a great point. Seems to go hand-in-hand with Elizabeth’s study where people get along better when they meet over food. We’re hard wired to think about eating…thank goodness or our species may not have survived, right?

    @Morgan – Yep, we all seem to be leaning towards home cooking as a better alternative to eating out, especially when everyone gets involved with the preparation or potluck! And I agree with you – I usually have more fun finding a recipe and cooking up a storm than actually eating the food. I mean, the eating is nice. But I love surprising others with something delicious.

  • http://www.ladyraycello.com Rachel

    Hi! I’ve been following your blog for several months but never actually commented (we did Josh’s Yin training together but I don’t even think I ever even introduced myself…)

    I have had similar thoughts about this for a while… dining out can be so expensive, especially when booze factors in…what else is there to do?? Well, your suggestions are excellent. Another sort of cute/fun thing to do with friends is to form a little craft group. I did this once a long time ago and it was great! Basically three of us got together, brought our projects, and just chatted while working on our stuff. Now, I guess you can’t bring some big messy painting-sort of thing, but knitting, felting, crocheting, and scrapbooking can be fairly mess-free. Also it would be fun to swap ideas, share materials… stuff like that.

    Anyway, love your blog. :)

  • http://bonnenutrition.blogspot.com/ Sweta

    Nice post Michelle!!
    I guess it must have all started when food was not so much in abundance and was treated like a ‘treat’.
    Even our festivals are centered more around food,rather than for the religious reasons. Food is and will always be a part of celebration-can you ever think of going for a wedding where no food is being served?

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