I considered skipping today’s post entirely. With entire swaths of the East Coast under water, writing about food seemed so trivial. How could I wax poetic about the upsides of tofu or downsides of BPAs with so many dealing with the ravages of a hurricane?
But then I thought about those affected by the storm — families who’ve been without heat with which to cook a proper meal; folks who’ve had to flee their homes altogether, leaving the refuge of the family table behind.
It occurred to me then that food isn’t frivolous at all. What matters more than breaking bread with family and friends in times like this?
Now is when we need, we crave, the comfort of a warm meal thoughtfully prepared by someone who cares; an invitation to sit at someone’s table and be nourished by love and family dinner.
Being 3000 miles away from it all feels so removed. I wish I could deliver a pot of chili to my sister’s rain-soaked doorstep in New York City or bring a thermos of hot coffee and loaf of gingerbread to the mothers whose fragile newborns were evacuated from a hospital in the middle of the night.
Can you imagine?
Thankfully, plenty of good-hearted people are doing their part to get food, water, and other essentials to those who need it. The Red Cross appears to be at the forefront of such efforts.
They’re accepting donations via www.redcross.org or by texting the word, “donate” to 90999. There’s also Feeding America, a network of food banks that will provide food to shelters and elsewhere.
Maybe that’s my way to lend support, to feed those who have no electricity or no home, even if the pot of chili or thermos of coffee isn’t prepared with my own two hands.