We Have An I Don’t Like It Problem When It Comes To Food

I see it all the time. Someone orders a dish out at a restaurant, proclaims they don’t like it, picks at their dish, and tosses the rest away. Someone buys something at the grocery store, tries a bite, doesn’t like it, and offers it to me before they throw it away. Children negotiate with their parents to eat something other than what was cooked or ordered for them, prompting their parents to make more food or order something else. With so much abundance and so much variety in our lives we don’t even have to consider the alternative. Eating whatever is in front of us.

There’s a respect for food that has been lost on my generation.

Our removal from the hunting, gathering, and growing process of food is one reason. The processed and pulverized nature of “food” that now resembles the factories they come out of more than it resembles something grown and raised in nature adds to our disconnect. But mostly it’s because for many of us, the amount of food available is endless.

There’s this great scene in the movie The Menu, where the chef, played by Ralph Fiennes, has just turned on his unaware and affluent guests who he says can never be satisfied. He asks one of his guests who frequents his exclusive restaurant to name one dish from their last visit. He doesn’t have an answer, but his wife whispers “cod” into his ear.

“Cod” he says.

“It was halibut. Rare fucking spotted halibut” says the chef.

The diner’s wife inquires “what does it matter?”

To which the chef replies, “it matters to the halibut Mrs. Leebrand.”

It’s a simple yet genius and powerful moment in the movie when they give life to what we simply consider to be “food.” It’s a scene that has stuck with me and one we often repeat at the dinner table.

The next time you’re unsure about what to eat, remember that scene. It matters to the halibut, and it matters to the people who are not in the fortunate enough situation to not like their food.