Mealtime Mirrors
October 19, 2009
Meals are as similar, and as different, as the families that eat them. Sometimes you can see those differences in black and white.
I recently viewed a series of short films made almost 40 years ago. They were part of a curriculum for teachers, to help them understand how kids are shaped by their families. A crew filmed a regular breakfast at the homes of several families, each of whom had a four-year-old.
Although there were times when it looked like the families were trying to put their best foot forward, these very unscripted moments showed some significant variations.
A highly intellectual family did a lot of explaining, even to the baby. A single mother hardly spoke at all. In one family, the four-year-old did a valiant job of trying to keep up with his older brother's teasing. Rachel very carefully mixed eggs. Craig couldn't decide what kind of cereal he wanted, and the more his parents rushed him, the worse his dilemma became.
The last shot of each film was of the child walking out the door. By that time, each kid had had a different breakfast, a different experience, a different start to the day.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today.