Feelings Behind Sharing Yummy Food

"What to make for dinner today..."

It's what my co-worker often says when the work is almost over. She is getting married end of this month, and I'm attending to her wedding party. I will also help her as a receptionist at the wedding ;) Anyway, "What to make for dinner today". She's lived with her bf since last year and has been cooking for him almost everyday. I know that maybe it's a kind of serious thing to think what to make for dinner, however, I don't deny I envy her a bit whenever I hear it. As a girl living with parents, I rarely cook. I know my cooking skill is not that horrible, but I don't have large repertories since in most cases, when I cook, it's after work. I don't really feel like going shopping or checking recipes on book after 1.5 hours travel from workplace. However, being a stingy girl, I'm sure I'll seriously start cooking when I start living by myself, lol.

I had a small party with friends last weekend at my friend's apartment. He was senior at high school and for some reason, my best friend has been in a relationship with him since a few years ago. I've known that she sometimes cooks for him when she visits his apartment, and also heard it's much less time than hers, but he also cooks sometimes for her. I felt it's sweet when I heard about it. I've also cooked at my bf's place sometime in the past, but don't think any of them has cooked for me recalling memories...I remember one of them has told me that he would make crapes for me and cook for me, but those words became wishes that never ever come realized when he left. But I remember I was happy when I heard those words since I hadn't even heard those words from other exes in the past, so it sounded very sweet.

When I ate foods that my friends cooked, I remembered something. Eating food that made by mother already became something like routine work, so I thought that I've been missing something. The foods my friend made were good, so I naturally said "美味しい" and it made me feel something. It was a meal that can make someone happy. I remembered I always wanted to make him happy when I cooked at his house. It may sound passive, however, it was enough to be my motivation for cooking. I wanted him to be happy and wanted to try something for it because it makes me happy as well.

Eating is necessary to live, but also means more than it. It's like sharing memories. It actually affects the human relationship. We get close to someone when we eat together. We can't like the person so much however he/she is nice if we don't like the way he/she eats (I'm sure I can say it about speaking, smiling etc. It's something physiological). Lastly, I realized that if you think about a specific person when you're eating something delicious, the person must be your special because you want to share the happiness over the great food...I don't know if this works to everyone, but at least, I feel this way.