On Life As A Picky Foodie

Dear Friends;

In the past few weeks, Fridays have gone from being my favourite day of the week to just another reminder of the impending deadline I am up against.  With two weeks to go until my baby’s estimated due date, although I am aware that only 5% are actually born on that day, my list of to-dos seems to grow longer by the minute.  Everything needs to be done before the baby’s arrival -- from the curtains that need to be hung to the pool that needs to be tested, to the food we should have ready just in case, to the emails that need to get sent out.  Couple that with the exhaustion that comes with the final weeks of actually being pregnant and you’ve got yourself one stressful period at a time when we’re supposed to be quieting down, resting and enjoying those last moments before everything changes.

Cue the urban family.

How I love the term, and how I love my urban family.

Your urban family are the people you pick to count on, your surrogate parents, aunties and siblings who may not have seen you grow up, but you definitely do your share of growing with them. 

Our urban family is where we find the support that was traditionally offered by mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and neighbours who may now live thousands of miles away. 

Only unlike more traditional, biological family … our chosen family is constantly changing as people move away and move back, fall in and out of love, have children and change jobs and personalities. 

One of the things I remember finding most challenging when I moved to New York from Jerusalem over a decade ago (when mobiles phones were still few and far between!!!), was how different the concept of friendship was.  Whereas in Israel, contact seemed to be much more constant – with never-ending bar-b-qs, impromptu dinners, picnics, hikes and sundowners; in New York, meetings were scheduled in advance and it was completely normal to go months without seeing even one’s closest friends.  In Jerusalem, nobody had a datebook or planner -- you just knocked on people’s doors when you were in the neighbourhood – in New York, the Palm Pilot was king.  Slowly, I built up a network, a community, my Big Apple Urban Family.

And so it goes in London as well.

I recently read an excerpt from the book EAARTH: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben.  In it, Mr McKibben asserts that we are lonelier today than ever before, and that “on average an American eats half as many meals with family and friends as she did fifty years ago. On average, we have half as many close friends.”

He goes on to say that we are unhappier than we used to be because we are, at the core, social animals.  These days, it seems everyone is plugged in to something – a cellphone, an iPod – anything to block out the outside world.  But regardless of whether it’s R&B or a meeting we’re scheduling, face time has become minimal, in-person conversation a rarity.   

And what about the lost treasure of meeting strangers in random, amusing ways?

My entire childhood would have been a completely different experience without the colourful characters my mother was constantly engaging in conversation.  No matter where we were – on the street, in the supermarket, boarding a plane – she found people with interesting stories, or rather they found her. 

Mr McKibben’s book doesn’t just focus on the negative, however.  He goes on to point out and delineate how our society is finding creative ways to build a new sense of community and connection.  As the old saying goes, it takes a village – only that village now spans the globe.

I was recently lucky enough to reap the benefits of having such an amazing urban, or rather, global family.  When I reached out to a few people with the request of some help, I was overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the responses I received.

The result will be readable in the coming weeks as Guest Newsletters make their appearance in On Life As A Picky Foodie.  When I contacted these people – friends and colleagues, fellow food lovers and writers – to share their stories, and lend their expertise, I was really deeply touched by how willing they were to contribute a piece for the site. 

I cannot express my gratitude, how incredibly lucky I feel to be surrounded by amazingly talented and unique individuals from around the globe.  The opinions and stories they will share belong to the people writing them.  Some are more radical than others and you might agree or disagree, but I can say from the bottom of my heart that every single one of these people makes me think, challenges my beliefs and inspires me in a myriad of ways.

What do you say, fellow global city dwellers: how about taking that fancy headset out of your ears and reaching out to someone?  Who knows what surprises may await… 

And speaking of reaching out: though I will be on maternity leave starting this week, I will still be contactable by email and through the website.  And please keep the conversation going by leaving your comment in the On Life As A Picky Foodie archive.  I look forward to hearing from you all.

With love,
Gabriela