Food is by far the thing that truly brings people together. Whether it’s with friends’, family, or strangers, the best way to get to know people is while eating a meal with them. For me, every aspect of eating affected my life. The five W’s could be applied to food. Who, what, where, when and why. Each one can be applied to how food affected my life forever. Whether it was with my family on thanks giving, with friends on the wrestling team, or even midnight runs to some fast food place with buddies. I love eating with people at any time, and rarely do I find myself eating alone.
Food played an important role in my wrestling career, causing me to interact with my friends on the team differently from others. There were many unwritten laws with food among the wrestlers. These laws were always to benefit the people losing the weight. One law was to NEVER eat in front of a wrestler losing weight. When a person has gone a number of days with little or no nutrition, seeing food, especially people eating food, makes the yearning for it insane. Usually people losing weight would stay in the wrestling room. No food or drinks were allowed in the wrestling room, thus it was a good place for those of us losing weight to hang out and talk. The absence of food during those times is what brought us together. Often we would talk about what we were going to bring to eat the next day. Sometimes we would make elaborate things to eat and drink. Making our mothers cook our favorite dishes and packing it all up into a cooler, almost unable to withstand the desire to eat it right there. Other times we were so hungry even the mention o
Wrestlers aren’t always losing weight though. My team would eat together quite often actually. Since we would weigh in the order of weight class, we would slowly begin to gather to where our coolers were. Sometimes we would have to make a trek out to the tuck parked way outside. Sometimes we would eat in inside the gym, filling one section of the bleachers from top to bottom. As we all slowly began to eat, we would unveil all kinds of foods. Sometimes one of us would bring fresh fruit to slice up and share with everyone. Anything from pineapples, watermelons, homemade food, or packaged foods would be passed around between us. We would always share what we brought with each other, not only to be nice but because we wanted to eat all kinds of food. After starving ourselves for so long we would want a little bit of everything. Once, my friend Alex gave me some orange juice that he squeezed just that morning from oranges from the trees in his yard. It’s not every day a friend gives you some freshly squeezed orange juice. Those memories of eating with my teammates will last forever.
Thanks giving dinners are very important in my family. Each year is like a family reunion. For many of my family members this is the only time we see each other all year. Almost the entire day is spent with people talking and catching up on the news of the past year. Slowly, more and more people show up, all bringing their own foods made from their own recipes. My mom always makes a dish that I don’t particularly like while my grandmother always makes the most zesty turkey. Every year she lets the turkey cook for hours, always starting it early to sure it’s ready. Some years her and I break the wishbone, and usually I forget to make a wish. But the thing I will never forget is what I eat every year. The plate I get for myself is very bland but my favorite. My first plate of the day will always be turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, all topped with gravy. Simple yet delicious.
I love to eat with friends. Especially when it’s late at night. All kinds of crazy things happen when you go out to eat at night. No matter who I go with, my midnight runs to places to eat always turn out to be an epic adventure of driving around different places. I have eaten everywhere from Taco Bell to Waffle House. And even Taco Bell at Waffle House. Whether we eat out or take the food home, we always have fun. Once, we had two cars in the drive through. We were constantly going from car to car while waiting in line for our orders. A
Its obvious how food plays a very strong role in my life, other than just to keep me alive. Food truly does follow the five W’s. With each thing I mentioned the W’s can easily be found. Who: The food I ate with the wrestling team brought us all together. What: Going out for fast food late at night with friends just for a midnight snack. Where: The places we drive to late at night. Steak ‘N Shake at 3am. When: Eating behind the truck outside right after weighing in. Finally getting the thing we craved for days all together. Why: To get the whole family together for at least once a year for one big feast. Food truly does bring people together.
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