Self-love and Food

Beauty standards and emotional eating: much better tastes await us

- Prachi Shrivastava

SKETCH love? A tubby-chubby Katie-girl' aged 10. She's enjoying a scoop of banana pudding ice cream. Her dad has sneaked her into the parlour, behind mom's back. It's their 'place'. Describe love? Her dad breaking the rules of diet-watch to keep the rules of being her top cheerleader.

An episode on NBC drama, This is Us, is déjà vu to many of us. It brings back mixed emotions-about food and love, acceptance and judgement, beauty standards and weight issues.

The Cotton Candy Cave

Have you noticed how many generations of parents and grandparents unite in their love language? It is food. Reaching inside their wobbly old talcum-scented purses and bringing out candy. Sneaking in chocolate bars. Late night, early morning or oddtimed walks, bus rides, scooter rides. To this ice-cream parlour, that street food joint, the sweets shop. Birthday special. Family celebrations. Shady, ritual regulars' restaurants. Unaffordable, photo frame worthy, culinary indulgence places. Socio-economic fault lines don't break this code. It could be as simple as a lollipop made out of rice and honey. But our elders always manage to say, 'I love you'. Handing us something to lick-something that makes both our stomachs and our eyes light up at once.