Eat to live; live to eat?

While slurping on a bowl of spaghetti on a hot afternoon my mother asked, 

"Do you eat to live or live to eat?"

My answer seemed obvious as the grease from the tomato and meat sauce dribbled a shiny, orange trail down my chin.

I wiped the grease from my chin with the back of my hand and looked around for a napkin. Yes, I live to eat. The disgusted look on my mother's face most definitely confirmed that.

But let me be clear. When I say live to eat, I'm referring to the feeling you get when you bake a chocolate chip cookie for 11 minutes instead of 13 to get that rich brown, gooey perfection. Soft-baked. The highly referenced "food-porn" picturesque. The 'this is what I live for' moment. 

But this image of food is not the one we all know.

Perspective

I have adequate resources to buy the food I want, when I want. I have shelter, clothing, and water too. I eat at a kitchen table with a fork and knife and my food is warmed at the press of a microwave button. I have access. 

My relationship with food is not based solely on energy or nutrients, it becomes a relationship including likes, dislikes, pleasure, and disgust. 

My backyard garden is bountiful yielding round red, oblong yellow, and bulby white. It is my candy store. I slaughter a single zucchini from its green, prickly vine. I dice it up into chunks. 

Can I dress you in red chili flakes? Perhaps a bath in a yogurt herb sauce? Unlikely pairings. Sweet and salty? Bitter? Spicy? I can have it all.

The zucchini is dictated both by my need to survive and my need to play. I throw the chunks into the pan and toss in the spices. The chunks jump and pop with the rising heat. I stir the zucchini chunks with a wooden spoon every minute or so keeping the dial at medium temperature. They say after you do something 20 times it becomes a habit. Cooking zucchini is like breathing now.

Both my creativity and satisfaction are nourished in the production and consumption of food. 

The Other

But there is another type of person, one with little to no access. This person wakes up with a growling tummy. They may look like you or I because hunger shows no favoritism. It is in fact a product of poverty.

Therefore our relationships with food depend largely on the environment in which we exist. As products of our environment, food can fall anywhere on the spectrum between a basic need and entertainment. So what does this mean for this 'other' type?

Does our economic status, in fact, control our human right to food?

Yes. Food access is made possible by the skills, income, education, social capital, etc. that allow us to engage with food. Therefore we are not granted equal rights to food, both a basic need for physical and emotional survival. It is this, here, that dictates our ability to connect with food at a deeper spiritual level.

Do you eat to live or live to eat?