When Dinner Becomes Art: An Evening at Finial
Awareness Through Culinary Culture
From time to time I am fortunate enough to get some professional development in on my day job. And sometimes it sends me to some pretty cool places. On this particular session, the company hosting the conference I was registered for put its members up in a resort hotel in the heart of Greensboro. Of course I took this opportunity to not only expand my knowledge in the field of education, but I was also able to take advantage of some really good food.
So the conference took me to the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. It is a secluded resort-style hotel with all the amenities anyone could ask for. It was surrounded by acres of sprawling golf courses while inside hosted numerous restaurants, bars, spas, and museums (stay tuned for the art coming up a little later). The main dinner was hosted in the Finial Restaurant at Grandover. Just to put it plainly, the food and the service was phenomenal. The hosts were indeed very gracious and allowed us to order what we wanted from the main menu. So I ordered Classic Prawn Cocktail and Finial Crab Cakes for the table as an appetizer and then for my main course, I had the Chilean Sea Bass. No good meal should go without some form of libation to pair with it, so I ordered the Smoked Old Fashion.
You know, it’s easy to recognize creativity and artistry when you are standing in a museum or sitting front row at the show of one of your favorite musicians’ live performances. But with culinary art, it’s easy to overlook especially when the goal of eating isn’t necessarily to enjoy the taste. I know there are many popular mainstream shows about food on the Food Network or Cooking Channel, but sitting face to face with a perfectly cooked Chilean Sea Bass is a bit of a different experience. With food, unlike with other art mediums, we actually get a physical interaction which can lead to noticing different outcomes, different feelings, and different emotions. And within this context, the word “noticing” is where the experience is particularly interesting.
No surprises here – we eat every day. Which is why I label eating as one of the top 5 things we as humans do or practice while moving on autopilot. Remember, when we live a life on autopilot, we tend to breeze through the motions without collecting or holding many thoughts. We just pass the parts down the assembly line out of habit. We tend to glaze over food consumption talking with our dinner mates (which is very common at the type of dinner I was at – with people I am just meeting discussing common interests which usually encompass the reason we are all there in the first place) or if we are very relaxed, we probably spend it scrolling through our phones looking at emails or social media. And even when we taste the food, do we actually even really taste it?
When we are mindful, we aren’t required to turn the event of eating into some philosophical conversation or debate. It can be much, much simpler than that. Temporarily leave your focus on everything but the food for just a moment to study and appreciate the texture of the food, or perhaps, the temperature or contrasting flavors. Even before you begin to dig in, notice the presentation. While you are eating, try and notice if you are simply eating it or consuming it with attention.
Don’t get me wrong. I was guilty here. As soon as the plate hit the table, my fork lifted very eagerly and I dove in immediately. Thus, my picture as you can see, came after a few bites had already been taken. Sometimes life throws things that look pretty at us and we don’t even have time to take 5 seconds to just sit back to look at. I struggle too clearly. 😊
But this was a particularly enjoyable dinner. There was great food, drinks, and conversation. I know many at the table may have looked at what was served as just food from a nice restaurant, but sometimes what’s presented in front of us at high-end restaurants represent or equate to the paintings and sculptures present or the melodies and compositions musicians deliver. The food represents someone else’s craft and it was here I noticed where another level of culture met with awareness. You know, as I was just stating, a lot of art hangs on walls, but pay attention to other places where “art” shows up and demonstrates awareness in action. Who knew you could find it at the dinner table?
Stay Mindful…
Rebirth
