It's Monday night - Monday Night Football Night. In our household, that means an easy meal, eaten in the living room, while watching football on the teevee.
How freakin' american is that?
Yet, this evening, as I open the cans of soup, as I plop a pad of butter into the hot pan, I keep asking myself the same question: How many will eat as well and as satisfying as I will tonight?
Tomato soup and grilled cheese. One of the most humbling yet satisfying meals. It is a meal I first came to love growing up as a roman catholic. This was Friday night food during Lent. This was a meal that my mom (not the best cook in the world) could pull off with great aplomb. It was sweet, salty, acidic, creamy, crunchy, smooth, every possible texture you could imagine! To this day, I absolutely love and adore it.
But it wasn't until my adult years and experience when I realized that what I once viewed in my house as a humble meal would be viewed as a banquet in another. I have been blessed in my life. I have had the privilege of growing up in a working-class household. I have had at the privilege of being economically poor, struggling and succeeding. I have lived in different areas throughout the US and the world. I have seen first hand the benefits of a society who looks after its own, as well as also having seen great economic disparity, where the well-to-do live very near the barely-getting-by. I have seen economic success and despair. I have seen pride in the poor and arrogance in the wealthy. I have wept tears of joy and despair for what I have seen.
I have been blessed that I have never known a day of hunger, even when times were tight.
So, as I chomp into my grilled cheese and slurp my tomato soup, I find myself grateful for such simplicity. I find myself feeling blessed that I have such simple nourishment for my belly and soul And I find myself hoping that EVERYONE may experience the same joy I feel in being able to sustain for another day.
Please contribute to Feeding America.
UPDATE: Wow! I share some thoughts, go to bed and wake up finding this on the rec list! What a pleasant surprise with my morning cup of tea! Thanks everyone!