Food | Eme's Kitchen Experience

My appetite for food is not as great as my eagerness to cook. Naturally, I enjoy tasting my creations and I am often hypnotized by the aroma of the food and how it floods my kitchen and extends to the adjoining surrounding but often, my appetite arrives late to the summit.

There are days the process of raising my hand to my mouth with a morsel of food feels tasking whenever I decide to eat. Some form of laziness makes me daydream means I could employ to empty the food into my tummy without doing the actual work of eating.

Despite knowing the importance of food and how much my body requires certain vitamins and minerals that can only be best provided by eating, I wish the human body could photosynthesize and humans could take in food without the conscious action of eating. But for the necessity of food, maybe my body would solely rely on air for all its metabolic functions.

Since our body needs food and mankind is yet to invent anything that completely eradicates our need for food we must eat and that is the reality for every living thing. Our first provision was food and eating is the only task we performed at birth without being taught. It is not a surprise that food was central to man's first act of disobedience. Adam and Eve were beguiled into eating the forbidden fruit and even Jesus Christ was tempted to turn stones into food when He hadn’t eaten for forty days.

This is no coincidence, humans have a given tendency to eat food be it convenient or not. Remember the prodigal son? His first lack was food and his realization and conviction to return home was tied to his need for food (Luke 15:16-17). Somehow, God created a system that reveals to us how reliant we are on Him for the abundance of our food and during the absence of it.

Our need and desire for food as God's creation mirrors our need and desire for God. Our relationship with food appears to be relative to our relationship with God and this is probably why there are about one hundred and forty four (144) occurrences of hunger and hungry in over twelve (12) translations of the Bible. When we are hungry, we need food and the food we eat reminds us of our dependence on God.

In my locality, one staple food popularly considered a quick fix to hunger is Garri. Garri is made from grated, dehydrated and fried cassava. Garri on its own would just be carbs but when paired with soup, its nutrient density increases. Repeatedly, my bout of eating laziness happens whenever garri and soup are on the menu. Although my soups are always flavorful and inviting, consuming it can feel tiring when it involves garri.

On a certain day, I enthusiastically prepared one local soup that pairs well with Garri. This soup, known as "Edikangikong" was a delicious merger of waterleafs and pumpkin leaves, spiced with enough crayfish and endowed with beef chunks, snails, shrimps, stock fish and dried fish and cooked in a tasty broth with adequate palm oil. It was a soup one should immediately devour and I would have, had my appetite not gone AWOL. However, when the violent rumblings in my tummy increased, I encouraged myself to eat and I was glad I did.

There is no way to totally avoid eating food or substances that act as food just as there is no hack to our need for God.  We may have reasons not to eat for a period just as we make excuses not to believe in God and the words of His Son, Jesus Christ but it can only be for so long; we would eventually get hungry and would need to eat, and what else  can satisfy hunger except food?

As I urged myself to eat this beautiful perishable plate of Edikangikong soup and Garri, I urge you to eat, not just the food that perishes but the one which endures to eternal life (John 6:27). Also, I encourage you to eat because you need food and the health of your body depends on what you eat for "while Jesus is our truest, deepest nourishment, our earthly food is a small experience of that deep eternal satisfaction".

Just as my day got vibrant because I acknowledged my need for food and went ahead to eat this nourishing native delicacy plated in a style inspired by a culinary author, our lives now and in the time to come would be eternally satisfying if we truthfully acknowledge our need for God and make time to feed on Jesus, whom He has sent.