It was while I was on my second trip to Ireland that I became fully conscious of the food I was eating. At the family's house that I was staying at, they had a very small refrigerator compared to what I had been used to in the states...something we may find in a recreational vehicle. So shopping was not a once a week excursion. Everything was bought locally from the little village. Bread was bought at the bakery, meat at the butcher shop, fish from the fresh fish shop, fruit and vegetables were purchased at the local farm stand and everything else came from the neighborhood market.
'Living in the moment,' was the norm. I came away with a new appreciation of the food and products I was consuming. When you purchase your fish with the head still attached and the eyes still open, it became a sacred exchange of awareness and gratitude, for me. I became aware of the life that had been sacrificed for my health and well-being and of another and gratitude followed; that another creature would sacrifice their life for me.
I became aware and present with everything I bought and put in my mouth. Remembering the grace that we offered before dinner as a child, all stages of nourishment, now, became a prayer.
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