Sit back, slow down, and chew, won't you?

Sometime in the past, around the time when tight-rolled jeans were cool, I didn't think of meals as practice for being the first Olympic gold medalist in freestyle rapid food consumption. Years later, there's still no event to determine the fastest eater among humankind.

Hyura Choi/YH

I've managed to break world records and a few of the laws of physics (the less popular ones) with the speed at which I eat my food, and other than some studly lower jaw muscles, I have nothing to show for it. And I wonder why I continue to do it. At least when I was young, it was because I wanted to finish and go play. Now, the sooner I finish my food, the sooner I can go...work. Hooray.

As a kid, fast food seemed like a treat. When we were little, we all probably wished at some point we could eat fast food all the time. But we didn't realize that when we were all grown up, fast food would be all we could eat.

When I say fast food, I don't mean fast food. What's the difference? The latter is the food you eat at McDonald's, but the former is trying to make any food disappear as fast as possible. It is a destructive practice that has made all of us lose touch not only with one of the true pleasures of this world, but also with each other.

As any Yalie knows, being "all grown up" means that classes, studying, and activities have pushed many important aspects of human existence into the background. The pace of living leaves little time to notice the neglect of our health, our families, our values, and the less fortunate of our society. We spend our days so caught up in getting things done, that it's a wonder we even know what we're getting it all done for. After this paper is finished, there's another one waiting. All along, I thought life was about getting everything out of the way so you could enjoy it. But what's left to enjoy?

Taking the time to talk with friends is deemed "goofing off" or "procrastinating." More disturbingly, we rush through the pleasure of eating and go on to "more important things."

Food is a necessary and enjoyable part of our lives—it should be savored. When we eat only to provide the energy necessary to do other things, we pay less attention to what we put in our bodies. Not only does our health suffer, but our spirit as well. Meals becomes rushed, nothing more than a means to an end, representing an attitude that every wonderful, sweet part of our lives is but a waste of time.

Of course, you might say there is little wonderful or sweet about Yale dining hall food. Sometimes, it seems that consuming it is a means to an end—the end of your life. I can't disagree, but we can't allow the fact that eating has become a chore to let us neglect the delight that food affords us. In trying to forget the taste of dining hall food, we shouldn't forget about the love we've shared over food with our families. Every meal is an opportunity to step back from our hurried lives, sit down with our friends, and remind them that they're more important than that paper or project.

Most of all, food, like no other part of our existence, serves as a dazzling reminder of the simple and constant pleasures of life. Biting into a thin piece of chocolate, feeling it snap and then melt into velvety nothingness, sweet and bitter at the same time, shouts with unquestionable clarity that just to be alive, to taste, to feel, to sense is an unending, daily joy. The rush you get from the burn of an habañero or the tickle in the back of your throat as the cold, crisp fizz of champagne slaps you upside the head tells you to slow down, wake up, and thank God that you're alive.

So if you're ever asked that familiar question, "Have you taken the time to stop and smell the roses?" make sure you can say, "Yeah, and they taste pretty good."

To learn more about the Slow Food movement, visit www.slowfood.com.

Ramey Ko is a junior in Silliman.

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