Growing relationships with food

Eating is something we all do and this dimension can be upgraded to help us thrive in unique ways by combining eating with relating

Relational eating and psychology

Drawn story by Frits Ahlefeldt

A new trend in eating is called relational eating and it is closely related to local eating. It is all about relating, not only to what we put in our mouths, but also about knowing and understanding where it came from and know the ones who grow our food. It is a dimension in eating that we all took for granted a few hundred years ago, but is mostly lost today

Local eating as psychology

Local eating is about relating to our foods in ways that not only creates better thrive and health, but also stronger and more resilient, sustainable communities, simply because eating together can be one of our most multi-dimensional ways of bonding and relating, both to people and to places.

Knowing the landscape and the folks as a path to thrive

Thrive has a lot to do about the things we share. And one of the most important things we share are the local places and the ways we interact in them.

Sharing and eating local food combines relating to both locals and places in unique ways, that not only help us bond but also help us get a deeper understanding of where we are and live.

Communicating over and through food

When we grow, find, harvest, prepare, store, share and eat food together it can also all be something we talk about.

Food, as a subject for talking, is unique in its both personal and universal aspects.

We all relate to food, and we can all contribute and learn more about it by talking about, sharing and exploring the many variants and options in all the different stages in food growing, preparation and eating.

But maybe food is also one of the best examples of why words are not enough.

Food experiences needs to be tasted, felt and shared. Because doing this, our shared experiences, eating habits, attitudes, and how we relate to and share our food, can also help us learn and relate better to each other.

Keywords: foods, psychology, relationships, food preparation, activities, thrive, communities, wild crafting, growing food, sustainability

bout Museum of Psychology – Visualizing psychology
We understand reality at least through a combination of metaphors, images, stories and experiences. But also through our dreams, understandings, feelings, food, music, walk of life, directions, expectations, relations… and even more dimensions.

Much of this have in common that it is possible to sketch up maps and drawings of these places, trails and situations. Here on Museum of Psychology I am both writing and drawing up a slowly growing map of our many landscapes of understanding.