Love Language
Food is a a love language, a cultural statement, a get-together, an art form, something to get excited about and something to hope lasts forever.
Food is one of the only activities in the world that EVERYBODY experiences, right alongside breathing & sleeping. Every person in the world has their own relationship with food and nearly all relationships have involved food at some point. Some use it as fuel, others as payment; some take 2 bites and throw it out while others are forced to make a loaf of bread last a whole family. There is no right way to experience food, but everyone has lived a lifetime finding their own relationship with it.
image via Alfrey Davilla
Imagine all your past experiences with food. Yes, we know that’s a lot. Which are the ones that you remember? The first time you ~actually~ liked an avocado? That time you were starving on a road trip just to see the golden arches appear and the ensuing cheeseburger & fries that came with them? Maybe the first time you were able to buy food for YOURSELF rather than on someone else’s dime?
We have all eaten a lifetime’s worth of food, and each experience is unique yet relatable. We are all tied to the same necessities– food, water, & air. Yet food is the only one with such diversity, optionality, and effects. Food is a best friend and comfort to some. However, it can be the greatest obstacle and opponent to others. None of us get to decide how our BODY interacts with food, our genetics and metabolism do. But we can decide how WE choose to interact with it.
The rise of dietary preferences is clear evidence of the changes in our personal decisions towards food. Some have bad experiences with the health effect, production, or inhumanity that comes with meat and its manufacturing. So they choose to have a meat-free relationship with food. Others avoid carbs because they believe their body is best suited for a life without it. So their carb-free relationship highlights their individual connection.
We all have our own personal experiences with food. Whether it be short-term memories or a lifelong relationship that carves your dietary path to healthy habits. We all interact and experience food in our own ways, and that’s a good thing :)
“Everyone has lived a lifetime finding their own relationship with food”
Image via Biona
Now, think about the last time you went out to eat WITH someone. Why were you going? Were you hungry and just needed to refuel? Maybe. Were you looking for a comfortable environment to facilitate a conversation? Probably.
You’re not paying $7 for a cup of coffee for the coffee itself. Or at least, I hope you’re not! You’re paying for the experience. Whether it be the trendy setting to get work done, or the comfy lounge to catch up with an old colleague. Food is the social connector for these experiences.
We all have our own unique connections with food itself, but we all share a very similar one when it comes to the interactions it brings us with others. When a friend asks to meet up, you grab a cup of coffee. When you want to go out to watch Monday Night Football with a group, you grab a beer & wings. Food is the ideal and most effective medium between two individuals connecting. It provides an ice breaker, a silence interrupter, an excuse to leave or a reason to stay for another drink. Food can be the greatest wingman and your worst enemy– ever spill red wine on your shirt on a first date? But no matter the experience, the only constant is one thing in these connections: food.
Food is a love language to some while many other things to others. But for everybody, it’s a social connector. That’s why we built Pepper. To finally provide a digital platform that enhances the social interaction we have all come to love with food. It’s all part of the experience :)
