The second thing I wanted to talk about is just a little bit about my relationship with food and how that contributed to where I'm at now. Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandparents on my dad's side. My grandmother did not like to cook, but she would cook for me because I'm her only granddaughter. The problem was that since she didn't like to cook, she would fix a lot of foods mostly out of a box or can and they were very unhealthy and fatty. If she fixed a vegetable, it was generally smothered in cheese. My grandparents on my mother's side both liked to cook and it seemed they were under the impression that people who came over to eat were going to starve. My grandfather is from Italy, my grandmother from Venezuela. They cooked a lot of Italian food which means a lot of pasta which was positively divine because it was homemade and it was very easy to eat a lot of it. They fixed healthier meals than my other grandmother in that they usually made a large salad and some other vegetable. My parents generally cooked slightly healthier food, but it wasn't as much of a priority. As I mentioned before, I was at a healthy weight as a child so it wasn't such a big deal.
With my family, primarily with me, my mom, and her parents, food is the way we show our family and friends that we love them. My mom's parents were never very open and expressive about their love. It just wasn't their way. They showed their love by fixing amazing food and encouraging us to eat helping after helping. My mom likes to cook for our family because the time and effort she puts into it shows how much she loves us. I'm the same. When my friends come over to my house on Monday nights when I host, I have a tendency to fix something more elaborate and complicated because, as I've also mentioned, I'm not good at communicating and that's how I show them how much I love them and how much their friendship means to me.
