It can be lovingly prepared corn tortillas w/ braised/stewed organ meats... shared by a family of five... with a water from the town well... thanking God for allowing them to have a meal...
Or it could be what you put together for that dinner party recently... Although you're the poorest you've ever been... You took a trip to the farmer's market, got a great deal on some pork shanks... Picked up some fresh aromatics... Some apples that, at a $1.00 /pound were screaming "CHEAP SALAD..." The carrots you picked up were spectacularly imperfect - the root vegetable had twisted and turned itself into an almost corkscrew like shape... And some potatoes that with enough butter and heavy cream would be sinfully decadent, yet remind everyone of their mom's mashed taters...
You settle the salt and peppered shanks into the cast iron skillet that you put some oil into; which was barely smoking... The shanks sizzle loudly... And you brown each side and put them into the casserole dish which will be going into the 350 degree oven soon enough... You poured some beer and chicken stock into the casserole - enough to cover the shanks 1/2 of the way up... You toss in the aromatics... You search your pantry for some excitement and pulled out juniper berries, and some dried herb mixtures... You cover it with some foil and pop the casserole into the oven... You carefully lower the heat to ~200 after 45 minutes... and you let the shanks lovingly cook for about 6 hours - turning them over ever hour and a half or so...
No matter how much money you make, where you live, heritage, age - WHOEVER YOU ARE... You cannot say no to good food... We can have a million different political and religious views... Pro/Against Life, Pro/Against Same Gender Marriage... But if we were to all meet at a table, not knowing any of that... Because our friend lovingly prepared us some oven roasted, cork screw shaped carrots, topped with a teensy bit of a spicy, ginger honey glaze... Or because they lovingly braised some shanks till they were meltingly tender... OR because their mashed potatoes sent us on a nostalgic trip back to elementary school and your best friend's mom's mashed potatoes...
I feel if we constantly had the thought in mind that - "Food Is A Common Denominator..." The human race wouldn't be going through the GMO, pesticide covered, heavily processed struggle - it is currently facing...
