Eating and Sensuality
I’ve been thinking about the way people eat. When you walk into a restaurant, look around, everyone is eating. Mouth open, mouth close, food on teeth, food all over the face, food on the clothing; talking with a full mouth, chewing first (thank goodness) then speaking. What is everyone thinking? Is everyone really behaving in a manner befitting of oneself? I hope not.
Eating should be a beautiful act. It is sensual and very telling of a person’s physical awareness. Everyone should take a moment and consider their decorum when enjoying a meal; cleanliness, noisiness, and what the face and hands are doing. While the food culture discusses, without end, eating with the use of sexual entendre and parallels so many take the etiquette of dining lightly? I believe that a person that doesn’t care much about eating habits must have a similar indifference to many aspects of life. On the contrary, adventurous and involved people make for exciting eaters.
How you are about eating you are about love. It may just be a theory but it has good reasoning. Have you ever met an unadventurous eater that was exciting between the sheets? A clumsy eater that was coordinated and smooth with his/ her hands? I haven’t nor have I known of any.
We enjoy watching the way a strawberry is eaten. Will it be quick and mostly teeth or are the lips going to wrap themselves and cling until the berry is quietly swallowed. Whereas slurping drinks down and chomping while talking is not polite behavior and doing so can be taken as disrespect.
I’m not trying to make the dinner date an anxiety-ridden experience but I do believe it is important to emphasize the importance of etiquette. It is part of the exterior and, being human, we do take what we observe and apply them to our decisions and judgments. Making a good impression is important but how well are you demonstrating sensuality and thoughtfulness?
Maybe I am making too much of this. Perhaps my interpretation of the act of eating should not be used to predict the intimacy. But I don’t believe that I’m alone in this opinion whether or not foodies or gourmet mention it in some way they consider the connection. But, let me know what you think?