The Loss of Family Dinner... The Return of Agape-Love Feast?

Rubens' "Feast of Simon the Pharisee"

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubens-Feast_of_Simon_the_Pharisee.jpg

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Dear Fred, 

Thanks for your email. 

We never know if our circle of friends is representative or unrepresentative. 

In my particular circle, I am surprised that so many people -- myself included -- delight in cooking and are eager to share our culinary creation with others.

Alternatively, America's "Right Wing" -- TV dinners in hand -- labors under the mistaken impression that liberals drink all their coffee at Starbucks and eat exclusively at restaurants chosen for their "hipness."

It is probably true that "liberals" choose "cool" eateries while avoiding "hot dog rotisseries" at gas stations (although my friend, Don Pedro, treats me to a couple o' dogs about once a month. He brings his food offering because he thinks I "spend too much time alone"). 

However, such "liberal food preferences" do not depend on "quest for coolness" but on the incontrovertible fact that "cool places" serve the best food. 

Example...

By my lights, the best restaurant in (nearby) Durham is Los Comales, a dirt-cheap taquería, frequented by latinos - and "liberals" who know good food. http://www.yelp.com/biz/los-comales-de-durham-durham 

Rednecks would not be caught dead at Los Comales unless packing a concealed weapon and leaving a designated sniper -- rifle at the ready -- in a pickup truck outside.

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So...

Although I disagree with you on "the loss of home food," it is true that "sitting down to family dinner" is no longer commonplace, especially when one's kids hit adolescence. 

I recall that the fundamental strength of Toronto's Super House was our dependable gathering for dinner - each day's feast prepared by a different communard. 

The disappearance of "family dinner" is a great loss. An inestimable loss.

If not remedied, it could prove decisive to the skeletalization of culture, "a disappearing act" already far-advanced by too much cyber-gnosis and too little "kingdom come."

So much hinges on breaking bread together...

Perhaps it is time to revive the original Christian "Love Feast" whose history is bound with Eucharist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape_feast  ///  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharist

I have done a bit of preliminary work to streamline "the format of the Mass." In this revision, only a few minutes of formulary prayer remain, enough to lend structure to home-based Agape-Feast. This revised format also includes at least one daily liturgical reading; be it the Old Testament, Epistles-Acts-Revelation, or the Gospel. I also envision "group reflection on the reading" as replacement for the priest's "in-church" homily.

Although The Book of Revelation has done incalculable damage to the modern Christian psyche, yesterday's reading from Revelation is luminous! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_revelation

Reading 2, April 28, 2913
REV 21:1-5A

Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.

The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,

and the sea was no more.

I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.

He will dwell with them and they will be his people

and God himself will always be with them as their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes,

and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,

for the old order has passed away.”

The One who sat on the throne said,

“Behold, I make all things new.”

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042813.cfm

***

In John's vision, we are assured that "God's dwelling is with the human race," an essential affirmation of The Incarnation, not headlong flight back to The Word and away from the problematic challenges of    Earth.

"All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well." http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich

It is true that humankind "got off to a bad start," but "the former heaven and the former earth have passed away," and "a new Jerusalem"  is embedding itself in the divine milieu that "makes all things new."

In yesterday's apocalyptic passage, the phrase that interests me most is "the sea was no more."  

Note that the "old sea" is not replaced by a "new sea." 

Heaven and Earth are replaced but not the sea.

Modern psychology rightly interprets the sea as surrogate for the unconscious mind, that chaotic place where fear and surging passions are able to wreak havoc in an instant.

But now "the sea is no more." 

To me, it is self-evident that when humankind finally occupies "New Jerusalem," we will rise above the unconscious chaos, fully manifesting Eliot's prophecy: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." http://www.std.com/~raparker/exploring/thewasteland/explore.html

The omega -- uplifted by Christ consciousness, by consciousness that Love Incarnate is all and in all --  finally contemplates the alpha from whence it came, and now, full circle, humans "know the place for the first time.

What went before was hallucination - shadow on the wall of Plato's cave.

Pax on both houses,

Alan

PS Friend Arthur cautions patience: 'This process may take a hundred thousand years.'

On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 6:56 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

Intrigued by the disconnect between the dramatic drop of home cooking in the past fifty years and the increased interest that has turned food preparation into a spectator sport elevating professional chefs into celebrity status, Pollan sets out to investigate what he terms “the Cooking Paradox” and emerges with several hypotheses.

Does the author explain this loss of home-food? Or do I have to ask Laura Wood for an explanation.

Her answer would be too simple, of course.

--Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My blog is Fred Owens

send mail to:

Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001

Alan: Fred also provided this postscript:

I need to find my new food rules, wherever I put them.

1. Never buy food where they sell gas.

But also

2. Don't eat in your car, don't eat alone, and especially don't eat in your car alone.

I have not seen Poulan's new book, but he may have arrived at the simple truth of eating.