WHY I LOVE FOOD SHOWS AND HOW IT APPLIES RIGHT NOW

‘Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love — yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.’ 1 Corinthians 13:13

Chantelle (my bride) and I sat on the couch scrolling endlessly. We couldn’t figure out WHAT to watch. Not sure what the correct term is, but it felt like, option exhaustion. I looked up the correct term, it’s called “decision overload.” So, there you go.

I open up Netflix, then Apple +, then Hulu and then finally, when all options have been exhausted — we land on something.

We got into a little “Barefoot Contessa.” If you know anything about my bride and I, food is our endless rainbow in life. I’m not talking about gorging myself with food, although that does happen from time to time. I’m talking about the fascination of ingredients, techniques and stories ABOUT the food. We cannot get enough of it.

So, when we landed on “Barefoot Contessa” to watch, hosted by Ina Garten — we were mesmerized. What I love about Ina is how luxurious her meals are. Every time Chantelle and I watch, we chuckle to each other about HOW MUCH these meals are going to cost to make.

Don’t get me wrong, I know eating can be expensive. This is one of the reasons why we cook so much at home. However, Ina takes it to a whole ‘nother level.

As we sat and watched her prepare for her dinner party, we couldn’t wait to see what she was going to make. I feel like when Chantelle and I host dinner parties the food consists of pasta or burgers — but not for Ina Garten. She’s gonna ball the 🤬 out.

Ina starts off with a whole fillet of beef, almost six pounds. She pairs that with a homemade dill mayonaisse. Of course she has sides and desser to go along with it. It looks insane.

The butcher she goes to is out off this world. I mean, we’re talking about a couple hundred dollars to fix up this dinner for friends. I ABSOLUTELY love every bit of it. I’m hooked. I’m dreaming and can’t wait for the day when we get to host like that.

Food is about ingredients. The better the food, the better the ingredients. It’s that simple.

Just recently, we bought a jar of tomatoes from Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods. The tomatoes were nearly three times the price of what we normally would purchase. However, when Chantelle made her insane red sauce, it took thirty minutes to make a slammin’ sauce as opposed to hours or even days.

Why is that?

It’s the power of the ingredients. Same thing is true if you’ve ever been to Italy. I’m amazed every time we’ve gone at how simple the food is but HOW GOOD it is. We come back home every time saying, “why can’t we make that at home? Why is it so much better over there?”

Most of the time — it’s because of the ingredients. Sometimes, you do get caught in the web of dreams of being on vacation in Italy. Everything seems to be better right?

Life is like that as well. The power of ingredients rings true in our own lives as well. What you put in becomes the sum total of what you produce.

This verse in 1 Corinthians is famous for faith, hope and love. All three of these are vital ingredients toward what we produce. I guess it’s like, “what do you want to serve your customers?”

What if life is like a restaurant? When people meet you, what are you serving to them? What are they consuming from you and how have you prepared it?

Wow, now I’m getting really hungry. This whole thing is about food and now my brain is transfixed on Napoletana Pizza and a beautiful linguini.

Sorry, back to your restaurant. Maybe it seems dumb but for a foodie like myself — this really makes sense to me. I love food, I love ingredients and I know that better ingredients make things better. They also make them simpler and I’m all for that.

I guess as I go about my day today, my hope is that I can serve some Napoletana Pizza’s made with faith, hope and love. My hope is that everyone I meet is greeted with the best product of myself because I’ve invested in the best ingredients.

If you love food or think you do — let me know if this makes sense. And, I’d love to hear more about what you’re eating RIGHT NOW.

Have the best day — keep harvesting great ingredients.

Lastly, I listened to this podcast this morning. It really spoke to me regarding the history of racism, the formation of the police and how what we see today was rooted in the generations before us.

My prayer is that we decide to choose better ingredients that we can serve our black brothers and sisters. Maybe you’re with me — maybe not.