Tempting to leave the entirety of the entry as simply that, because shouldn't it be that simple? But surely you say, it's not...or someone would want to expound on the absoluteness of obesity & food being the love or some other related twist.

But aside from the imbalances and dis-eased aspects of food & such related to it, which is most likely not love, but as a substitute for love, I rather think food is love. Good food. Warm healthy nourishing food. Provisions for the day-sort-of-food. Tea when you need a sit-down sort of love. Care. Compassion. Nutrition. Taste. Warmth or cold. Vitality. Breaking of the bread. Health.

My husband thought this was a silly saying when I first said it to him many years ago. He was off to haul hay on a very cold Wisconsin day...lots of snow, lots of ice. But we'd bought a lot of hay at an auction & the hay needed to be hauled, needed to be had.

So, off he drove with a couple others & I handed him a big jar of our version of quick trail mix -- chocolate chips, raisins, sunflower seeds (if you're lucky), nuts of whatever type we have around. I said, "food is love," as I handed it to him & he reluctantly took it & thought it silly. Likely I included a thermos of tea, but don't remember that part. And then, when they came home, many hours later because of delays with ice & loading, he was so grateful for the trail mix. So glad that it was there because of the cold & the effort of the day...he realized what care that  meant. To be cared for, to care for others in a helpful, positive, good way through food...sustenance, more.

Many many jars of trail mix later & cookies & home-grown, home-made road provisions, field lunches, coffee breaks at the tractor, cold tea in the field, picnics at the end of planting hundreds of yards of potatoes & a growing lifetime of growing good food, it is our quiet understanding that food is love.