Food Expertise

I’m grateful to have neutrality around my own food. I cannot say the same for any other period of my life prior to Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA). While I don’t want the food my husband and son eat, I don’t like spending a lot of time thinking about what they might like. If they tell me what they want, I will buy it or make it, but I don’t like to guess or get creative.

Occasionally I do get a little too focused on their food. I want to hear how great their meal is, which is more about me fishing for compliments. I’ve never been known to be a great cook, even prior to FA, but I do love any little bit of praise I can get.

We have a seven-year-old foster child with us now, so the non-abstinent food rotation is changing again. She suggested a specific food, which I made for all of them. I wasn’t eating it, but I felt invested, putting it together in a particular way so that they would enjoy it fully. My husband went along with what I was saying, but my son was sure I was wrong and proceeded to tell me how and why.

At that point, my husband leaned over and, in a feigned whisper, said, “If anybody knows about eating, it’s your mother.” I had to admit it was true. Because it was true and I’m abstinent, I also had to admit it was funny.