Value every bite

It is a time of year when most of us do tend towards excess, but it is in celebration of our good fortune and thankfully the excess is usually extended to giving as well. We share our wealth with others and enjoy meals with family and friends, toasting to good things to come in the New Year.

We have spoken often this year about the value of good food – enjoying fresh foods, growing them or buying them close to home, and preparing them so they retain their unique flavours and even colours. As you know, Martin and I are very passionate about food and its importance, not just as sustenance but also as part of the fibre that forms our society.

I was painfully reminded of how important it is to value every bite of food this past week when I managed to knock one of my front teeth loose in a fall. I certainly was aghast at the look of my face with such a prominent feature out of place, but the biggest shock came in thinking that I would be eating Christmas dinner through a straw. Let me tell you, for a foodie such as myself there is not much worse as punishment than to miss the week of the year when food is at its pinnacle. That old song, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth…” kept ringing through my head.

Martin bundled me off to the dentist where he bonded my teeth together and sent me on my merry way. I was to come back in the New Year to have a wire put on as final support in the healing process. But wait! It gets better! As I write this, I am waiting for the emergency on-call dentist to call me, as the original work done to bond my teeth together came apart only days later. The bonding was to help hopefully avoid me having to endure a root canal. Needless to say I am less than impressed with a certain dentist in not doing a suitable job and then not answering his pager over the holidays. (I will not mention his name here, but you can be sure I will be telling as many friends as possible that I most certainly do not recommend his services.)

I will mention that I am not a lightweight when it comes to dental work. I don’t want you to think that I am complaining just to be heard here. I went through appliances that cracked the cartilage in the roof of my mouth, and having all four wisdom teeth removed at the same time as my jaw being broken (along with braces, of course). All of this was for a good cause and I endured it with the best smile I had at the time. The part that upsets me on this occasion is that repair work is having to be RE-done because someone didn’t bother to do the job properly the first time and didn’t bother to follow up, either.

The lesson I have learned here is that just like with food, you need to remember to think of all the details yourself – don’t rely on anyone else to provide you with the information and don’t assume anything. Ask the questions to ensure that you are getting what you want and deal with reliable businesses that offer a relationship so you can trust their practices and their products. This trust is worth a great deal in today’s world as it cannot be bought by paying more: it is a quality that people possess or don’t. I believe it used to be referred to as integrity.

I hope the rest of you reading this did enjoy a sumptuous holiday feast and continue to munch on leftovers as we glide into the New Year. Value every last morsel with your family and friends, savour every sip as you clink glasses. Those memories may fuel you later in less fortunate times.

Happy New Year, everyone!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.