Be Our Guest

Since Beauty and the Beast highlights food, I would like to take a moment to talk about it. Food is magic, it not only sustains our bodies but it brings about feelings of comfort and love. North America, as of late, has developed a dirty backdoor relationship with food. They assume that food is the cause of the obesity epidemic, sure some foods are problematic however I don't believe that food is the problem. I believe the problem is that we simply have lost our true enjoyment of food.

Think hard, when is the last time you really savoured a meal? Did you place it in your mouth and allow your taste buds to discover each flavour? Have you ever done that? This is what love of food is, and I LOVE food.

We neglect our taste buds, we barely ever take them out for a walk or play with them. A fun game to play with your taste buds is “Guess the flavour?” you can play it at a restaurant or when someone else has cooked something but A mix pack of Jelly Bellys is an ideal way to play this game.

A few hints to savour meals, Chopsticks for Asian food, as a rule of thumb any meal that is supposed to be eaten with chopsticks should be eaten with chopsticks, it slows you down and it forces you to taste every bite, so put that fork away. Drop the fork, when eating if you put the fork down in between bites you may actually taste what you are eating. (I say this as a former shoveller)

The reason why I chose to have a food element to this journey is that food sparks memories, feelings and ideas. I wanted to make this experience as full circle as possible and food in my opinion speaks to the primal self, the animal within that is the great equalizer, since, of course, everyone has to eat.

I hope that my Disney meals inspire others to go out and try some new recipes or at least get out to a really good restaurant and have an awe inspiring meal. A beautiful meal makes life worth while, and for this animated life, my dishes may not sing and dance but my taste buds do, its part of the reason my mouth is always smiling.