Food Is Important And Other Understatements

Food is important to me.

I know you might say that it's important to everyone, and you would be correct, but food is really important to me. I hold food in high regard, like a first love.

I think that the world is the way it is now because is too easy to get. Hear me out. Society was formed when a group of people found some water and they set up residence. The next thing to do was find something to eat. When the food or water ran dry, they left and found a new spot. If the food and water were plentiful, they stayed. While they were there, more little groups of people started showing up. If the little groups helped each other get the food and they got along it became a village. Then a town, a city, and so on. And it all started with the food that was available in that one part of the world so many years ago.

When food became easier to get, we became different. Different can be good and bad...and we got a little of both I think. I'm not saying that we go back to the days where food was scarce and we had to fight or die. All I'm saying is that now we can drive up to a speaker, yell some words, and get a hot bag of something. That just takes all the importance out of the food. Eating is almost an inconvenience. And people just don't care what they fuel their bodies with anymore.

I'm not knocking fast food. It's designed to be delicious. As they say...anything in moderation.

Consider this...the nights you're not eating bags from a window, why not try to treat food with the respect and dignity it deserves and feed your family a home-cooked meal from scratch? Here's where my high regard for food comes in.

When I cook, I cook everything from scratch. I try not to cook with anything with ingredients that only have chemical names. I also try to use as many natural or organic products that I can. Before you put me into one of those "Pardon Me, Do You Have Gluten Free Organic Grass Fed Flax Crisps?" clubs consider this:

1. Organic food doesn't have chemicals sprayed all over it.
2. Organic food tastes a lot better.

That's the reasons I do it, and you should too. But, if you're not down for all that goodness, or if organic products are outside of your price range, then by all means, use what you can get in the produce section. That's where they keep the stuff that grows from the ground. Eat some...they're good. And it's not "health food," it's just food. I don't eat healthy...but I eat wholesomely, and even that makes a big difference on how you feel.

And even if it's not organic, eat as many local products as you can. These folks are your neighbors. You should love them.

I treat food with great reverence. Food holds families together. It brings back memories. The smell of Grandmaw's peach cobbler still hangs in the air every Thanksgiving even though she's been gone for years. My high regard comes from this. Food is what made you who you are from time immemorial. You as a human being deserve the most fresh and flavorful foods, and you owe it to the great powers that be to treat that gift with honor. Natural. Made by the hand of God, and pulled directly from the bosom of Mother Earth.

I'm not trying to change anyone's dietary way of life. A lot of us are really busy and don't have time to cook. Myself included. But when I do, I cook simply, with fresh ingredients, on a modest budget, and everything is delicious.

That's why I've teamed up with one of Stonewall, Louisiana's finest Down Home Meats to bring you a weekly kitchen segment from the brand new kitchen at Town Square! I'll be showing you how to cook some great food with wholesome ingredients, giving you kitchen tips, and sharing a lot of recipes featuring Down Home Sausage.

The videos will start in a couple of weeks or so, so check back for the first one! I look forward to sharing my love affair with food with you.