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Philosophy of Food, Friday period 3

There was no food on the table today.

"Before we begin," Hannibal started, "as we are now halfway through this session, I encourage you to discuss your class project with me now or during office hours, so that we can schedule time." He nodded to them.

"So." He sat on the edge of the desk. "To this point, we've mostly discussed how we approach food due to other influences, such as culture. Now, we turn that around. How is food itself an influence on other parts of life?" he asked.

"The types and amounts of food available to a culture, the sorts of foods that are valued as delicacies and the sorts that are discarded - these all can help to dictate the development of society, not to mention arts and leisure activities. We still evaluate earlier cultures on the basis of whether they were hunter-gatherers or agricultural," he pointed out.

"In each of your cultures, what foods are common or valued, and what expectations or industries or cultures have grown up around them? Beyond that, how much a part of your routine revolves around food? Do you cook, eat in the cafeteria, order food - and how does that change your day? The picnic to welcome us here - what would you have thought if it didn't include food? What about the fact that I've set out no food today - have you come to expect it? How has that expectation altered your behavior and thinking?"

He sat back and waited.

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Thoughtfully.

Rapunzel

Evan Sabahnur

Kira Yukimura

Nathan Byrn

Raven Darkholme

Alex Mack

Emma Swan

How does food affect other things?

"I...cook almost every day," Rapunzel admitted, thinking about it, "and I like doing it here because, especially if I'm baking, it seems like I attract people more often than not. Food promotes a sort of...sense of community? People like to eat. People like you if you make them food. I made pies one day earlier this summer and there were more people around to taste them than I knew what to do with!"

Mostly a joke, but still.

"At home, though, I'm from a fairly agricultural area." She thought so, anyway, based on what she'd seen from her window. "And I think that's why I like to bake as much as I do? Fruit's always been something readily available to me, so pies, scones, that kind of thing -- that's what I learned to make, before anything else. And we also seem to have a lot of crops of root vegetables, too. I like parsnips, personally, though I don't think they're all that popular, here."

From what she could tell here, anyway. Potatoes and carrots seemed to hog most of the attention.

"Very good," Hannibal said. "Building a sense of community is important, and food is a good way to go about it. Do you find certain types of food are better at it? And for the record," he added, smiling, "I think parsnips are underrated."

"Sweet things," Rapunzel said immediately. "Seriously, Dr. Lecter, I made a cherry pie and people acted like performed a miracle. It's amazing."

Hannibal chuckled. "For some people, I suspect it is a miracle. Certainly it's something that not everybody is capable of. How long have you known how to bake?"

"Since I was old enough to use the oven without Mother thinking I'd burn my tower down," Rapunzel said, thinking about it. "So like...ten years."

Yeah, do the math there. Most people didn't let their six year-olds bake alone, but Gothel was special.

Hannibal, on the other hand, had graduated medical school when he was her age, so he wasn't going to find precocious cooking an oddity.

He nodded. "What makes baking special for you?"

"A lot of my everyday routine is sort of centered around food," Evan offered, but less for me, and more for my pets. I take Old Lace out hunting in the preserve every day, because she needs the exercise and most high school kids can't really afford to feed a dinosaur." He shrugged his shoulders a little. "I'll bring snacks to eat along the way, and that's usually my breakfast. And then for the rest of my meals I kind of make do with the cafeteria food, or I'll eat out if I can afford to."

Evan, you were getting a pained look for that. Didn't you know how important breakfast was?

"How does eating in the cafeteria," you poor person, "affect your day? The food and the experience both."

At least Evan looked sheepishly aware of just how pained that look was?

"It's really not the greatest food in the world," he admitted, scuffing his toe against the floor. "But it's fast, so I have more time to study and to train, and it's affordable for students to eat there. I only work part-time, and books and school supplies and keeping myself clothed all cost money, and a lot of students here don't have family back home sending them an allowance or anything. I'm pretty sure the cafeteria is where a lot of the students here go, for lack of any other options."

Hannibal raised an eyebrow at him. "I spent many years in a Soviet state orphanage; I'm well acquainted with eating for necessity rather than pleasure."

He'd let that sink in for just a second. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't eat real food when you can," he chided, gently disapproving. "A cafeteria egg sandwich," yes, Hannibal was aware of the sorts of things cafeterias sold, lord help you, "is better than prepackaged snacks for breakfast. Growing teenagers need proper food."

"I... oh." Evan looked down, chewing at his lip. "I can try to steer Old Lace toward the cafeteria in the mornings before we go out to the preserve, I guess? She's usually pretty hungry and extra ready to get going by the time I wake up every day, and it's way easier to grab an apple or some granola on the way than to try not to get dragged outside by a small dog and a big deinonychus..."

In fairness, Ozzy was way more insistent than Old Lace was. Telepathic dinosaur, or a corgi/husky cross who was ready for walkies? The dog would win every time.

"Or you could grab the apple and granola, and eat more breakfast later," Hannibal pointed out.

But after walkies, there was training! And then class or work, depending on the day, and there were books to read and there was research to be done, and...

"I... could try," Evan hedged, after a moment. "I don't suppose there's any sort of guideline about what constitutes a proper breakfast?"

"There are guidelines for the day as a whole, but not for breakfast specifically," Hannibal answered. "And as those are made for a baseline average human, I suspect they would have limited use in your case. If you have a doctor or nutritionist who's familiar with your metabolism, you could ask them," he suggested.

"Otherwise, I would simply point out that you should eat a variety of things, preferably healthy ones, and enough to keep you going until lunch time." Or learn to make healthy, filling snacks between cafeteria meals, but if he suggested that, Evan would probably just buy more apples.

Apples were amazing! And maybe he'd even intersperse those with some oranges! Oranges!

"I don't really have either of those things," Evan admitted, wrinkling his nose a bit, "but eating a better variety is a good start, I think. Thank you, Doctor Lecter."

"You're quite welcome." Hannibal nodded and considered it at least a minor success.

Damnit, Evan, he was a doctor, not a nutritionist!

"Food is a huge way people comfort each other," Kira said. "Comfort food, soul food, things parents feed their kids when they're sick, baking food for people who are going through a rough time so they don't have to think about cooking themselves - it's sort of a universal way of showing you care. I think that's why we have so many food-based holidays. Being together with family without food just seems weird."

"I adore food-based holidays," Hannibal confessed as if to a secret. "And yes; food can be a huge comfort. What is one food you see as a comfort food, and why?"

Of course there was food. Hannibal brought it out once the point had been adequately made.

"When I taught this class last year, we had recently had a storm of sharks, and had an abundance of shark meat available to us. I thought I would carry on the tradition with some of those recipes. Shark fin soup, however, is an example of a perfectly good food that has nonetheless led to regrettable cultural practices - in this case, overfishing populations - so, we've none of that."

Shark kabobs

Roasted shark with olive pesto over warm radicchio and brussels sprouts salad

Braised dandelion greens, chile, and pecorino (http://offalgood.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/BG_Braised-Dandelion-Greens-Chile-Pecorino.pdf)

Banana and mango spring rolls with caramel rum sauce (http://www.partiesthatcook.com/banana-and-mango-spring-rolls-with-caramel-rum-sauce/)

About your class project, or anything else you like. The ~~cannibal~~ doctor is in.

Oh boy, the class project. Evan looked maybe the slightest bit antsy as he approached Hannibal after class to talk about that.

"Excuse me, Doctor Lecter?"

He had a technical difficulty when it came to that whole 'food traditional to your upbringing' thing.

"Yes, Evan?"

Hannibal was not impressed by your unreal-family-angsty-clone childhood, Evan. He still did not want to read an essay.

But Evan really wanted to write the essay!

"I was hoping maybe I could talk to you about the semester assignment? I have a few questions."

He was at least going to try to make this as painless as possible!

"Of course." Hannibal gave Evan his attention. "What can I answer for you?"

Evan pursed his lips for a moment while he tried to puzzle out just how to ask what he wanted to ask without giving Hannibal a diatribe about how he'd never actually eaten any of the foods he remembered being raised on.

"I guess... I just want some clarification about the nature of the assignment," he settled on. "The syllabus says you want us to teach you how to prepare a food traditional to our upbringing, and I wanted to know just how loosely that could be interpreted. Does it have to strictly be food that I remember eating, or food that I was fed, or can I explore foods that are more traditional to my ancestry?"

All three of those were very different things.

"As with the class, the purpose of the project is to make you think about food in relation to other aspects of life," Hannibal answered. "You could make food you remember eating, and explain why that particular food is memorable and what it meant when you ate it, or you could explore traditional foods if you would rather explain what they meant to your ancestors, why they were developed, and why you feel they are relevant to you today."

He wasn't entirely sure how "food you were fed" was different from "food you remembered eating", but he had a suspicion it wasn't pleasant, and chose to ignore that part. "What's important is that you think about food within a larger context, and prove to me that you can do so."

And not write an essay. That would be rude. Surely you didn't want to be rude, Evan.

It wasn't rude if it was right there on the syllabus! Putting it on the syllabus and then punishing the students who chose that option, now that was a trap, and that was rude, Hannibal!

Evan nodded thoughtfully all the same. He was... pretty sure he could handle this, and do so without producing an absolute mess of inedible garbage while he was at it.

"The 'larger context' thing, I can do. I'm actually looking forward to exploring it, now that you've clarified," Evan offered. "I'm not afraid of trying to cook. I was just... having difficulty figuring out what to base my presentation on in the first place."

It said on the syllabus he didn't want to do it! He was honest about it!

Hannibal nodded. "In that case, I look forward to seeing what you decide upon."

Is the weekend here yet?

What about now?

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Philosophy of Food, Friday period 3

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OOC!