Food Joy

My best friend Megan and I became best friends over a stir fry we chopped up the first night our friend, Austin, introduced us. In fact, THEY know each other from working at a restaurant together. A group of Couchsurfers in Cincinnati became great friends because one of the guys went dumpster diving every Sunday and wanted to feed people with the food haul. There are so many food stories like these — how people join together in life by way of eating around some kind of table.

Food brings forth commonalities. Food heals. Food reminds you of the love that exists in your life. Food makes your body feel good or not good. Food is laughed and cried over. Sometimes its delicious and then not so much. From a can or bag, farm or produce bin. If someone knows a culture where food isn’t this way, please let me know.

I didn’t realize this early on — that food was glue to a number of life situations. It took living on my own for the first time to fall in love with the process of cooking and discover the joy of sharing that food with other people. Took having a baby to deepen that admiration for food and community, which ultimately lead to where we are now with Nourished.

Taking care of myself, my family, friends and their friends, strangers, with food is what nourishes me the most. It nourishes physical and mental health, the deep need for laughter. Even just helps us survive sometimes. This work is fulfilling. Really. And to know that I can build a business on this concept, of food and joy and raw, tender life moments is that icing on the cake they talk about.