Is Food Your Language of Love, Friendship and Hospitality?

The bounties of giving and receiving food go beyond physical nourishment. Although I don’t think much about it when I share homemade food with my sisters, family and friends—mostly baked treats and chicken noodle soup—I was reminded recently how audibly food speaks the language of love, friendship, and hospitality.

The story unfolded when my sister Kalli returned my mason jars, which I had given to her filled with magic chicken noodle soup, refilled with chicken wild rice soup and Kellogg’s Club Minis Crackers. On a busy day of work I had something warm and cozy to look forward to at lunch time. Love.

A few days later, my daughter, Kalani, mentioned to her friend Josh that she was on her own for lunch the next day. He surprised her by bringing her a sandwich for the next day, exactly the finicky way she orders it—no tomato, no mayo, no onion, no vinaigrette. Friendship.

During the same week, I had a few cheesecake baking mishaps, so I sent a box of the not-so-horrible-looking mini cheesecakes (not pictured) with Josh to share with his household—three NAHL hockey players and their billet parents. Hospitality. And Kalani brought a box of the misfits to my friend Tracey’s house because her daughter Emma had been asking for cheesecake since summer. Friendship.

A few days later, Kalli delivered a few slices of vanilla cheesecake to us that she acquired when a baker in town had her own cheesecake mishap. Love. (It was super delicious and I didn’t have to do the dishes!)

My dad’s language of love is fixing things. Like when hoodlums whacked my mailbox off the post and into the driveway; he loaded up a table saw and drove to town to repair it. Love.