Thanks for Sharing Morocco

While there was a lot of negativity produced from Morocco, there was a whole lot of 

positivity and whole lot of GROWTH.  Tremendous growth through experiences and people. 

With this said, I would like to credit Morocco for their beauty in the sharing of food. It is Morocco who will sit and wait a couple hours for someone before they eat their food, it is Morocco who will share their food with you hand in hand, it is Morocco who will give to you food made with love and caring.   It is amazing the patience they hold when it comes to cooking and waiting for others to eat their food together.

People always shared kindly and warmly cooked and shared their food with me whether in a restaurant on the street or in the home.  It was wonderful to be in a Moroccan home eating course by course and enjoying each meal slowly. I remember one time we waited an hour for a friend to get home from work.  

While I thought I was so hungry, the waiting actually decreased my hunger. It's funny because Americans are so interested in satisfying the hunger immediately while Moroccans like to wait it out and focus on the quality-it's quite interesting.  

With this new found perspective on food, I developed new habits with my eating.  Instead of eating in convenience, I would wait until I came home to cook something and cook it.  When you cook from scratch, it takes time and I started to love that cooking time.  While I started my cooking in New York, Morocco just confirmed my enjoyment in cooking and it's therapeutic qualities. Morocco was getting me hooked on this idea of sharing the food with others.  When you cook something and share it with other people, you feel content and satisfied with the serving, the sharing, and the giving.

 It makes one understand why chefs love cooking for others and do not enjoy their own consumption as much. It's beautiful being able to share what you spent your time and efforts on with someone who appreciates and enjoys it.  This addictive process is what is happening in Morocco over and over again leaving Moroccans in the "sharing food and loving it" culture.  They just keep the sharing up during big festivals like Ramadan, Eid, and just on an average dinner.  During Eid, those who are wealthy are suppose to actually buy a sheep for someone who doesn't have one. While the rich have their own "unique" way of sharing, most people still do a pretty good job of sharing what they have whether on a holiday or not. 

With all the sharing in Morocco, it became contagious for me to share.  What is interesting is that I love to help people for what feels like a lifetime, but when it comes to food I do not enjoy sharing, especially my own food.  My experience in Morocco seems to have triggered a sharing feast. It seems like I just can't stop sharing whether it's buying a homeless man food, sharing with those on buses, in the streets, giving away my own food, giving away my favorite fruit and cupcakes?! This is just not me as I love my food and I don't want it to be touched by others or shared.  While I still hold those strong ties to food and I still allow myself flexibility to obtain what I desire- I just share a whole lot more and it's beautiful. My concern for what people are eating and putting in their stomachs is at a much higher importance.   

In Antigua, at the Atitlan tours agency I had made a whole new groups of friends-go figure. I love talking with the transportation guys, especially bus drivers and conductors.  My one friend from the other day was having his lunch-a tostada with some beans on it.  He was a big guy-a gordo hombre with a short t-shirt and his belly hanging out.  I asked if that was all he was going to eat and he shrugged his shoulders. I went out the street and got him a couple tamales and a couple nice, corn drinks(made of corn, sugar, milk, and rice).  I just bought for him and my other lovely friend who worked in the office. They were surprised with my kindness and so was I. It was like I just left the office with a mission to get them their lunch. It only cost me a couple dollars and their stomachs were happier and more content. 

This gave me pleasure instead of just filling myself with whatever I like to eat.  This act of kindness continued to occur giving my crackers away on the bus to mothers with children, buying food for the homeless(in a recent case feeding someone who was blind)-it's really amazing how much I grow and learn every day and in each experience.  I never thought I could be so generous with food, but it turns out I do have it in me. 

Thanks for sharing Morocco.....