unless you're sick, you like food. and even if you're sick, you're waiting around not to be sick so you can like food again.
food is a funny thing. it's personal but it's also very cultural. there are certain foods that certain groups of people tend to eat and certain foods that certain groups of people don't tend to eat. like, say, macaroni and cheese:
until maybe 20 years ago or so, i had never in my whole life heard of eating macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving (or for Christmas). i had an african-american client tell me about 20 years ago that his favorite part of thanksgiving dinner was the macaroni and cheese. and i was like........what??????
i repeated my question to him, "what's your favorite part of thanksgiving dinner," and he repeated his answer - macaroni and cheese. i was tempted to change his diagnosis from depression to major depression - with psychotic features.
but, he opened a door for me and by walking through it, i learned, for the first time in my life, that african-americans like to eat macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving. my discovery hardly altered the course of civil rights in this country but it did make me wonder why whites don't eat it, too. i mean, come on.........macaroni and cheese????? you can't get any better than that.
two days after thanksgiving this year (well, last year, i guess.....2014), rudy and i had breakfast with a (caucasian) friend and her (caucasian) ex-husband who's probably going to be her (still caucasian) husband again if they can work things out which i'm pretty sure they can. but i digress.
we had breakfast with these white folks and somehow or other, macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving came up for discussion and my friend said, sure. they had macaroni and cheese for thanksgiving.
and i was like.........what???????
sure, she said. didn't you?
didn't i???????
yeah, she said. didn't you?
no, i said. i did not. i'm white, pal. WHITE. white people don't eat macaroni and cheese for thanksgiving.
well, she said, this white person does. (at which point, i think rudy may have been tempted to change seats with my friend's (caucasian) ex-husband who's probably going to be her (still caucasian) husband again. if they can work things out. which i'm pretty sure they can.)
from there, a discussion of macaroni and cheese and race relations unfolded and i was just as stunned to learn that white folks do eat macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving as i was to learn 20 years ago that african-americans do.
where have i been all my life???????
where has rudy's brother been?
shortly after the white breakfast/white people eat macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving thing happened, rudy and i visited his (yesssssss........african-american) brother. and rudy asked him how the macaroni and cheese on thanksiving was.
brother: the what?
rudy: the macaroni and cheese.
brother: blank stare.
rudy: didn't y'all have macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving?
brother: no.
me: CRACKING UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
rudy (in disbelief): you didn't have macaroni and cheese on thanksgiving?????? did you have sweet potato pie?
brother: well, yeah. sure. we had sweet potato pie.
so, moral of the story is, have wings and potato skins for the game tonight.
GO BUCKS!
