Lily King 

Jesse Miller 

English 110 

18 April 2023

Dinner Time 

Getting together with family and friends to eat a meal together is my favorite part of the day. In my English class this semester, we have spent the majority of our time discussing food related articles. At first I thought it was completely nonsense and I didn’t see a point to reading about lobsters. After a while I realized that we are talking about more than just food. We were talking about our feelings towards different types of food and all of the nostalgia behind it. When I was writing my favorite food essay about spaghetti and meatballs and the story behind it,  it honestly made me really happy. Writing that essay was almost like reliving my grandma’s spaghetti and meatballs even though I am three hours away.  I wrote all about spaghetti and meatballs because it is such a major part of my life. When I think about family gatherings I think about my Nana’s spaghetti and meatballs. The way that a meal impacts my life in such a big way is so special to me. In Michael Pollan’s essay “Out of the Kitchen Onto the Couch”, he goes into depth with the negatives and positives of food and the stories behind it. He goes very into detail about the media behind food and he does that by tying in Julia Child’s cooking show. Food is such an important thing. Everyone needs it to survive. The sentiment behind creating recipes for your family and friends and cooking with them is such an important part of life. I love cooking because I love getting together with my favorite people to create heartwarming memories. 

Food has such sentimental value to me, I love cooking and eating with my family. I think that one of my fondest memories is cooking food with my Nana and my Mom. I love listening to music and just laughing with my family while we cook delicious meals. In Michael Pollan’s essay “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch”, he wrote about The Food Network and how it is so meaningful to so many families across the globe. 

My Professor has a really innovative website called the Food For Thought Archives. It is all of his class’s favorite food essays compiled into one big website where they are all easy to access. I read an essay from the Food For Thought archives, I read a very well put together by Ryan Christenson all about his Nana’s pasta and sauce. I thought it would coincide with my favorite food essay because he also wrote about spaghetti and meatballs just like me. I also have a very strong Italian heritage and so does he. I thought it would be extremely interesting to read another essay about how he makes spaghetti and meatballs. “She said that the recipe has been passed down for as long as I could remember.” This dish was always something that was passed down and is considered a food that she loved.” I chose this quote because it means a lot to me knowing that my family isn’t the only one with a passed down pasta sauce recipe. I also really liked it because of how Ryan explained how often they have the meal and how special it is to him that it is going to be passed down through generations. 

I also chose essays from our class. I decided to choose Quinn Weaver’s essay as well as Liza Zenk’s. I truly enjoyed reading through both of their essays. I think they both used amazing sentimental memories in their papers. Liza wrote all about her favorite meal being steak, potatoes and lemon beans. The way she talks about her grandparents and her mom making the meal in the summertime is so special and my mouth is honestly watering by the way she talks about this meal and I don’t even eat meat. Liza says in her essay, “Family meals have always been an important ritual in our family. It’s even more special when I’m home for summer and we get to talk about our day over a meal we all enjoy.” (Liza Zenk, 1) Liza ties sentimentality in to her essay in many ways. I think it is very special the way that this meal means so much to her. 

Food Network is one of the biggest television networks in the United States. It ties families together by showing how to make recipes that the cooks make for their families. In Pollan’s essay he talks all about the decline of home cooking and the upbringing of processed foods. He talks about how he and his mother used to watch Julia Child’s cooking show and then enjoy her recipes for dinner. I relate to Pollan in this because my mom loves the Food Network. I used to come home from school on her days off and it would always be on the television. We would frequently use their recipes and enjoy their meals for our weeknight dinners. It was always so cool to see the dish on the television and then an hour later my family and I would be enjoying it at the dinner table. 

I really enjoyed reading Quinn Weaver’s essay, about her grandmother’s mac and cheese. It was so heartfelt and sentimental. She wrote a lot about the origin of where the name came from as well as how to make the famous mac and cheese. The way Quinn wrote this essay was very special. She went into such great detail about the mac and cheese that I felt like I was eating it with her. She says this to finish off her essay “Home is where the people you love are. Usually when all the people I love are together, we’re at the dinner table. The dinner table is a place where nonstop love is shared and laughter is never ending.” (Quinn Weaver, 1) I chose this quote because I have truly never related to something more. Dinner time is such an important time of the day no matter who you are with. Meal time is filled with love and laughter and I can’t wait to get home from college so I can have a sentimental dinner with my family. 

I feel like I wouldn’t be as happy and successful as I am today without my family’s home cooking. I get taught so many life lessons about the world, my college experience and everything else at the dinner table. Food Network prompts people to watch their show but they never end up cooking the meals. The rise of processed freezer meals is going up so much. People are becoming a lot more lazy in today’s day in age. In Pollan’s essay he says “The Food Network has helped to transform cooking from something you do into something you watch — into yet another confection of spectacle and celebrity that keeps us pinned to the couch.” (Pollan 3) I agree with Pollan when he says this. I agree that Food Network has made less people want to cook all of these extravagant meals because they can just watch people do it on the television. In all honesty, being a college freshman, the whole not cooking thing is hard for me. We have a community kitchen in our building but everyone always leaves it gross and a mess. I have been acclimated to just making freezer meals instead of trying to cook around the mess in the kitchen. As someone who loves cooking it is really hard not being able to do that. At home I cook almost every meal with my mom and dad and we never get takeout or eat frozen meals. 

Pollan is very educated in this subject and I really enjoyed reading his paper because I think everything he said is true. I enjoyed reading Ryan, Quinn, and Liza’s papers because they speak so much about the sentimentality behind their favorite meals and it means a lot to read that cooking is still alive. I believe that some of the best memories that are created are created around food. I love cooking with my parents and I love cooking homemade spaghetti and meatballs with my nana.  Pollan focuses on how many people would rather be lazy than create delicious meals. He talks about how people just would rather take the easy way out and eat freezer meals instead. Food is so important to create amazing memories and keep families together. I truly love how many recipes get passed down throughout generations of mothers and daughters and even fathers and sons. 

Works Cited 

Weaver, Quinn. “Favorite Meal Essay.” May 4 2023. English 110, University of New England, student paper.

Zenk, Liza. “Favorite Meal Essay.” May 4 2023. English 110, University of New England, student paper.

Christenson, Ryan. “My Favorite Family Meal” May 4 2023. English 110, University of New England, student paper.Pollan, Michael. Title of Book. New York City, New York Times, Publication August 2, 2009.