Tea at Trianon: Good Food and Drink as Stress Relief

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Good Food and Drink as Stress Relief

Family meals are a key to good health. (Via Serge) To quote:

Did you ever see a movie (or better, the real thing) of a big Italian family around a dinner table, talking and laughing while "Mama" passed big plates of pasta and "Papa" poured the wine? Mealtime was historically geared to enjoyment and relaxation, conversation and sharing each other's lives. And, of course, the same is true in many other places and cultures.

Families like that don't have nearly the heart and other health problems so common today in America. Every wonder why? Compare just the heart attack and obesity figures for these two charts. Food and a happy dinner time isn't the whole story, of course, but after thirty years of nursing I've seen far too many stressed out people who seldom or never found any peace or joy along with their food, even when it was the most nutritious stuff they could manage to find.

Look around your own dinner table tonight and listen to what goes on. That is if you even eat at the table. So many people eat on the run, behind the wheel of a car, in front of the TV or computer, or they live and eat with people they don't like or respect. Dinner table (or other mealtime) arguments and fights are so common that I wonder if most people even notice anymore how unnatural and destructive it is.

And then there are the people (such as myself) who live and eat alone most of the time. Many have little or no desire to cook for just themselves, and quite a few have few cooking skills to start with. Some people are quite content to be on their own, but many live with deep regrets or grief over a lost spouse or other family relationships. Some wallow in false guilt or sad memories. (Read entire article.)