Will there be snacks?

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."
- George Bernard Shaw


One of my very earliest memories concerns food. Or, rather, the unfortunate lack of it. I was about four years old and it was a warm and sunny autumn day. I think it was early on a Sunday afternoon. I was playing in the back yard of our home when my Dad called out to me saying he was going to take our dog for a walk in the woods and asking if I would like to come along.

I can remember so vividly wondering where these woods would be - how far away from home? I guess I was imagining various children's stories with 'the woods' as a backdrop. None of them was very comforting. So, I paused for a bit, then asked him in a rather quiet, hopeful voice, "Will there be snacks??" He smiled kindly. Then, he looked at me with his ever-so-patient manner, and replied, "Nooooooo, Diane. There will not be any snacks........ It's a forest."

What a pity! And here, now, from so far away in the future, I can remember my disappointment so clearly. No snacks. Hmmmm. The excitement of going for an adventurous walk in the woods was instantly diminished by the very thought of being so far away from my food source.

I find it somewhat amusing to realize how early in life so much of my personality was formed. Although I've always been fascinated with other peoples' adventures, I've gone on precious few adventures of my own. In the end, apparently, I've always somehow defaulted to choosing the comforts I know.

Like food. I really can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed by food. Either thinking about it and revelling in it, or trying not to think about it and abstaining from it. But in either case, there is no doubt food has been a constant focal point in my life.

For years now, I have longed to become a food writer. But I could never decide how to go about it. I have no professional training nor special knowledge. I'm simply a person who loves food and the emotional world that accompanies it, and I am also a person who loves to write. How often have you heard that to be truly successful in life you must do what you love? A lot, right? So I'm going to do just that. I'm going to write about food.

I have no idea how many people will join me in this adventure, or if anyone will. But it will be a very exciting, challenging and fun adventure for me. And the one thing that I am completely sure of is this: There WILL be snacks!!

Cheers!

Diane