A new way to share

Life has changed. So much of what we used to call normal has disappeared, and our routines have been turned upside down.

Like everyone else, my hubby and I have had to adjust our home life and our work life. For us, this means there is no work right now.

We have busied ourselves with some administrative tasks, but that list was all checked off quickly with nothing else going on.

It’s been hard not to be able to share:

• No guests at the dinner table
• No chatting at the grocery store
• No meeting friends for coffee or wine.

For us, there is also no contact because there is no work. That’s hard when your work is all about interacting with people.

My hubby and I share food for a living; we specialize in cultivating those memorable experiences that occur around mealtimes. Sometimes it’s a celebratory dinner party with friends or colleagues in a group, other times there is a bit of team building as a theme.

In the summer months we are often outside for weddings or other family or corporate gatherings. Every event is unique, and each time we get to know the people as things are planned and set up, then executed on the day.

I love the privilege of being a part of people’s special moments. 

While staying at home, I can have a video chat with my mom or my brother, and I can connect with my dear friends who are scattered around the planet.

We even participate in a Virtual Happy Hour on Friday nights with my cousin and a group of friends as a way to feel more social. But I don’t have the chance to share food in the same way.

It’s strange to organize grocery shopping for weeks at a time. Even in the winter, our habit is to pop by every few days and be inspired with what is fresh or what we talked about that week.

Food is our passion, it’s an everyday thing to discuss our meals and think of new ways to prepare an ingredient.

I have a new respect for the old tradition of Meatloaf Monday and all those routine meals that would have been part of post-war meal planning.

In the '90s Time Life Books put out a series of cookbooks based on those days:

• Monday is meatloaf
• Tuesday is chicken
• Wednesday is spaghetti
• Thursday is pot luck
• Friday is fish
• Saturday is cookouts
• Sunday is family dinners.

We may not need to go back to that much structure, but there is some comfort in knowing some parts of the day are looked after, don’t you think?

I was afraid this week when April came around that I would wake up and discover it wasn’t really April, like some awful combination of Groundhog Day (the movie) and an April Fool’s prank.

March was as long a month as I have ever encountered. 

But March did end, and life goes on. Spring is happening. We are learning to appreciate the little things in life like never before.

I don’t want to sound ridiculously optimistic, but I honestly do believe – I need to believe – that this too shall pass. We will get through this.

The best way I know is to keep sharing in every way we can manage. 

If I can’t have people over for dinner, I will drop off a loaf of sourdough or some cookies at their door. If we can’t meet friends at our favourite local haunt to catch up for coffee or a drink, then we’ll do it online by video.

If I feel like all the news updates are getting on my nerves, I’ll write a blog post to share nostalgic memories of meals gone by or silly bits of trivia that make me smile. 

My plan is that all these acts will help others too, as we share these memories and experiences.

We are social creatures, so not being able to break bread or clink glasses together is tough. But we are an evolving species. Let’s get creative and try new ways to survive.

Just think – it will come in handy once we have relatives on Mars or the moon. 

What can I say? Humour and optimism are my best-honed skills — besides baking.

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