Eating at the edge

          In Horwitz’ article, she discussed people’s behavior about eating nowadays, and came up with the conclusion that people were “eating on the edge”. The food was also changing as with people’s behavior. Horwitz used an example of soup to prove his idea. She wrote, "What was once an archetype of the commensal is now widely available in a variety of single-serving packages" (42). Single-serving packages means that the soup is put in a separate package and it is just enough for one people. This reason for the existing of this package is people now would like to eat alone. People’s attitude about food changed a lot. They once ate their food on time, and mostly, they chose to eat their friends. During eating, they would like to communicate with their friends, and share their own experiences. Nevertheless, people nowadays would never done like that. They ate their food in their suitable time, and usually, they preferred to eat their food when facing their computers or televisions. Horwitz also wrote that asynchronous shifted from eating together in mid-1960s to eating alone now (44).  It seemed impossible to them to have food on time with their friends. No more talking with others during their eating time. That sounds very terrible to the author. In this way, the distance between people will become longer and longer. With no more communication, the friendship will become thicker and thicker, and people could not get different information as before. In my mind, this was what the author defined as “eating at the edge”.

           Most of the time, I would like to eat with my friends. Although my friends in DU have different course schedules, luckily, they are often available when having meals. I always eat with them in Centennial Halls and Nelson Halls. During the meal, we talk and laugh together, and we all enjoy this period of time. However, one day I was late for my meal, all my friends have eaten up at their usual time, so I have to eat alone. I really felt strange, it was the most boring meal I have never had before! The strong feeling of loneliness came to me, and I could not even feel the taste of the food I was eating. In that time, I suddenly felt the importance to have the meal with my friends, and to talk and laugh with friends is really wonderful! After that, I begin to try my best to have my meal on time with my friends; I do not want to make myself “eat at the edge” as Horwitz wrote in her article.






                                                              Works Cited
Jamie Horwitz, "Eating at the Edge." Gastronomics: The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 0, No. 3 (Summer 2009), pp. 42-47