Universe of Peace

Susie, Caroline, Cassie prepare family meal

"For me, the family is sacred. A strong family provides the mutual love, commitment, and honesty that allow us to grow up true to ourselves and to our fellow human beings. As a mother and as a citizen of the world, I am concerned that the collapse of this social nucleus is forcing us to become anxious, fearful, and uncertain about the future.

 "...I want you to remember that the kitchen, its environment and its ritual, is where the whole family is united. The traditional components include a father, mother, children, even grandparents. Today some families are defined differently, but no matter its makeup, the ritual of the table is a family's strongest bond. For me, it's an irrepressible joy to think of how many secrets and doubts, how many resentments, disappointments, and negative thoughts, can find a peaceful solution at the table. Confessions, debates, advice, and resolution of the mini-tragedies that crop up in our daily lives all find their way to the table. It's a small universe of peace, the clearest proof of the ties of affection and love that exists in our little community." ~~ Sophia Loren, from her 1998 cookbook, Sophia Loren's Recipes & Memories

    Interesting that this excerpt from Sophia's book dates to 1998, fifteen years ago. Since that time, the family unit has continued to decline, finding itself on a dangerous precipice overlooking complete breakdown.  While I don't fully understand the problem, confidence that the family unit with its age-old rituals seems, still, to be a healthy, solid solution. 

     Experience raising four independent, energetic children with my husband confirms to me that hearty meals together around our table have certainly created a special space - what Sophia refers to as a 'universe of peace' - where thoughts freed and shared often lead to solutions and sympathy. Also, hilarity - for ours is a robust, noisy dining experience - strokes hearts, releases tension, and gives energy for whatever lies after the meal is cleared away.

Caroline and Cassie sweetly, patiently wait.

     "Cooking is an act of love, a gift, a way of sharing with others the little secrets - piccolo segreti - that are simmering on burners," writes Miss Loren.

     Cooking, sharing meals in a safe environment, honoring each individual who sits shoulder to shoulder with us, this is powerful magic, not to be undervalued but held up as a pillar of strength for a people who cherish freedom, who understand familial bonds to be roots that hold us upright and steady, who realize every day that relationships appreciated and conscientiously tended bring far more satisfaction that any other undertaking the world has to offer. 

     Just beneath God and a rich spiritual life, family is everything.