Food is an amazing thing — not simply because it is good but because it is good for you.

Nourishing the body, especially when you live in abundance, should be a pleasure rather than something you get to bye and bye or a hasty act committed on the way out the door.

We say we’re too busy. What is more true is that we don’t make the time. Everything else is more important than our good health. Even people who exercise may eat well but not savor the experience. We have about 10,000 tastebuds so we are meant to be delighted by food. (Your dog wolfs his food because he only has 1700 buds and your poor cat, less than half a thousand!)

And where there is delight, there should also be gratitude. So plan for delight, indulge your taste buds and savor the results.

We’re the lucky ones, you know. One in nine people in this world is hungry, suffers from food insufficiency. I read yesterday that that causes profound health problems all your life. Why is this a surprise?

I’m not a person who gardens. Dirt and I are no good friends. But I understand that the planting and tending and harvesting of food is also sacred.

And many of us who have food, bolt it and don’t linger. We waste it. What if we ate only what was in our house and all of what was in our house? What if we under-ate a bit. Not to starve ourselves, but to let grow accustomed to what if feels like to be satisfied, but not stuffed? Playing with our food could have a different connotation than pushing it around on our plates. We could, as this picture suggests be deliberate and meditative about its preparation. Good ingredients, carefully prepared for maximum health and savoring.

We could let our food be sacred. We could be as mindful about how it nourishes us as we are how good it takes. Both, because both are things of wonder. We’d certainly care more about how food is raised and how it is distributed. Let us make Peace with what we eat and how we eat it. And then we can help to make Peace by helping everyone have food to eat.