Every once in awhile I get a hankering for a McDonalds burger and fries. The unnecessary carbs are enjoyable; I have a good time while I chow down, and when I am done its over. Move on. Many meals are like that. Food taken in unconsciously so that we can live on and get to the next meal — which we enjoy in the moment and then — pretty much forget. And on and on.
Then there are those meals that are something else — more than a conventional set of tastes — more than eating-as-habit.
A dish prepared with love and understanding of how food elements can be combined into a unique balance of taste and emotion can be revelatory — an experience that is more than mere nourishment for the body, but an opening of the soul.
Am I going too far? Don’t think so. You have had a meal that vibrates with feelings and meaning beyond the ordinary process of eating — that opens a depth of taste — that tells a story of what food could be when convention is discarded. Such an experience is more than an assuaging of hunger; it is a nourishment of the soul.
But, we have been eating packaged food for so long we start thinking that this is all there is. We go for McDonalds fare because it is quickly and easily satisfying — and forgettable — and in the end — empty.
Similarly, the true cinephile seeks the film that embraces the mind and emotion and exposes the new. This sort of film experience is almost always absent in today’s films.
Most of our film watching is MacDonald’s fare — conventional — easy to digest — fun in the moment — readily forgettable. But don’t you hanker — at times — down deep — for a film that just does not fill the time, but challenges — changes you?
