FOOD & FAMILY
"Nothing is better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing"
Irina Shayk
When sitting around the table, it’s not about the meals we share, but the single moments that define us as a family. Over Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter we enjoy special meals and experience gratitude and fellowship. Family dining traditions play a critical role in building our Identity and strengthening our family bonds. Nothing like those crowded dining tables - beautifully staged, well plated and loudly celebrated, to feed our hearts and souls and settle us home.
We cherish our special family celebrations but what about our ordinary, routinary family meals? Sitting together can be challenging amidst schoolwork pressing needs, technological distractions, different schedules and conflicting routines. With ease, such precious family times are often skipped. When we moved to the US, our family had to adjust by force. Our typical Brazilian diet was not readily available, and we no longer had someone helping us cook every day. In embracing a new lifestyle, we found joy in having to figure out on our own what to eat, what to cook every day. Daily dinners became our own family tradition. Every single night, we gather the five of us in a simple and basic routine, yet rich and fulfilling. The dinner table became a place of connection - a place where we slow down, talk and share our stories; a place where we can laugh, cry and reveal our emotions; a safe place where we can expose our vulnerabilities and crazy ideas; a place where we can embark on our dreams and fly high to the moon; a place where we make fun of each other, where we can be ourselves no matter what, a place where we can find peace and comfort on the one sitting next to us. A place we call home, built on solid family foundations.