So apparently the word restaurant derives from “to restore” or to “refresh.”
The word “restaurant” comes from the French word restaurer, which means “to restore” or “to refresh.” It was first used in France in the 16th century to refer to a highly concentrated, inexpensive soup sold by street vendors that was advertised to “restore” health. The term evolved over time, particularly in the 18th century when a Parisian soup vendor named Boulanger opened a business selling soups and other “restaurants” (restoratives). This establishment is considered by some to be the first true restaurant in the modern sense of the term, as it provided a menu with individual dish choices, a novelty at the time.
By the 19th century, the concept of the restaurant, offering a place where patrons could order meals from a menu in a separate dining setting, spread throughout Europe and to other parts of the world. The word was incorporated into the English language, maintaining the essence of its original meaning: a place where people go to be restored, both in body and spirit, through food.
When I consider restoration and refreshment, it makes sense that you would find these foods within healing broths. I’m reminded of my time in Hanoi, Vietnam, where people consume a lot of pho which is essentially bone broth and beef.
The most amazing thing that I’ve noticed about the people in Hanoi is the fact that they are very healthy, fit, and strong, even in old age. Many of the elderly people gather around 5 AM in the morning to work on their fitness, stretch, do calisthenics, dance, and partake in physical activity before eating. A lot of the elderly men look as though they are 20 or 30 years old when they may be 70 or 80. Also, many of them smoke cigarettes, but are still extremely healthy and look like they are filled with life. Maybe it’s because the foods that they consume are not poison, but have healing qualities.
Box life
When I consider life in the United States of America, we seem to have an affinity for living in boxes, working in boxes, whether offices, or cubicles, and operating technology, which essentially is just another box, a computer. We also carry boxes, or rectangles in our pockets, use the phone to receive notifications, text messages, take calls, email, and do all of our work. It seems that we are always glued to a box, even when we’re at home, watching a box, a TV, for entertainment, before we go to sleep.
I’m seeing a lot of advertisements along the bus stops and newspaper stands in Philadelphia for some sort of food delivery service. They use some celebrity or whoever, Kiki Palmer, to promote this product. I’m not too sure what the name is, but it’s essentially like these TV dinners, that come in boxes, and set you up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all packed neatly within plastic boxes, for you to put into a box, microwave, where you wait for the ping, the notification, “food that goes ding” similar to the text notification that you get on your phone.
Consumer culture
I think the big problem with these foods is that they do not restore your body or refresh you. A lot of the food in cities is processed junk that keeps you addicted and hungry. We have a complete disconnect to the food that we consume, considering transportation, and cities’ distance from farms. Also, when you look at a food, pyramid, like one that I’ve looked at, from Harvard University, they tell you to eat meat sparingly. My theory is that the less meat you consume, the more hungry you will be, driving you to consume more, eat breakfast, eat lunch, and have an endless craving to eat more food. Maybe the food pyramid is designed to keep people enslaved to this consumer culture of needing more and ultimately driving economic activity.
Freedom is a choice
At the end of the day, the greatest thing about living in America is the fact that we have the freedom to choose how we want to live our lives. We can choose if we want to box ourselves in, spend time in comfort, consuming, and inside. Or, we can choose to be outdoors, not consume, create, produce, and innovate. We have the ability to make decisions openly and freely.
I believe that everybody has the right to choose the way that they would like to live. I may be right, I may be wrong, but the point is that I follow my intuition. I believe that this is where truth is- by listening to your gut and your body.
Maybe the truth and God is within the light. Going forward I seek to follow the light and crush the shadows.