I LOVE EATING - MUSKRAT Magazine

In my house food takes up a huge portion of our household income. Then again, in my house there are six of us permanent residents plus a myriad of visitors, families and friends. There’s a growing five year old, a choosy twelve year old who fluctuates between vegetarian to organic to wild game devourer- dependent on what she’s reading at the time, two nineteen year old boys and my husband and I. (Then there’s the two dogs and 2 ferrets, but except for being called upon to clean plates, they have their own nosh.)

Food is also an important event in the house. Whenever I read diet articles or self-help nutrition books, I hear time and time again that its important to regard food as fuel and not to demand that it fill other needs, less it be relied upon to provide emotional supports which can lead to unhealthy eating patterns. But, to a certain degree, I disagree. With full-time jobs, daycare, school, training, work placements, the gym, workshops, basketball, softball, music lessons, performances and homework club to juggle, we very rarely get to indulge in each other’s company. But since we all have to eat, we try to at least do this together as best we can, even if that means sitting in front of the TV for half an hour with blueberry pancakes laughing at Home Videos, or trying not to slop spaghetti sauce on study notes while puzzling out grade seven geometry together. And if I were to be truthful (which is the whole point of blogging isn’t it?)

I would have to say that eating is one of my favourite social things to do. I’m disappointed when we go out and I’m not hungry. What to do now, if not eat? You can’t really talk in the movies. You can’t laugh together about what so-and-so did and whats going on at work in the middle of a basketball game. I mean, I suppose you could, but not the same way and not without people around you potentially telling you to shut up. Anyways, all I’m saying is eating is awesome. And since I do so damn much of it, it’s important to do it right. I had a great time editing this issue and learned a lot about how and why to eat certain foods and not others. Now, I’m not saying I won’t eat a bowl of potato chips watching The Hangover in my living room, but at least it’ll be a small bowl and it might even be rice chips instead.

We’ll see…

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Cherie Dimaline has held many jobs including magician's assistant, museum curator and executive director. Her creative work has been featured in national magazines and sought after for diverse anthologies. Her first book, "Red Rooms" debuted in Spring of 2007 and received positive accolades from both Aboriginal and mainstream audiences, culminating in its receiving the Fiction Book of the Year Award at the Anskohk Literary Festival. Since its release, Red Rooms continues to find its way onto college and university reading lists and into libraries and schools internationally. She has traveled across Canada and to Australia to give readings and present lectures on her writing. Cherie lives in Toronto, Canada with her partner and their three children. She is the writer in residence for First Nations House at the University of Toronto and is the editor of FNH Magazine.