MIND: Health To Your Hands.
Most are familiar with a select few international prefaces to a meal: the French bon appetit or Italian buon appetitio. I was recently introduced to a new version of this phrase that was said before every meal while traveling in Turkey, and I intend to take it with me as it has a strong influence on the mindset in which a meal is enjoyed.
“Ellerine sağlık”, pronounced el-le-reen-eh sah-luhk, which literally translates to “Health to your hands.” We said this before every meal as a way of expressing thanks to the cook for his care and effort. Just as the work he put in to feed and nourish us through fresh food - all hand-peeled by knife - we ask for his hands to be blessed with health as well.
I found it to be a small gesture and saying that carried a lot of weight, and one I also envisioned as health to our own hands as we feed ourselves, too. In case you have not heard me say it, it is worth repeating: food is the medicine we take three times a day, whether we think of it that way or not. Of course, the nutrients themselves are important, but the mindset in which it is eaten is arguably just as significant. With this Turkish saying, gratitude predominates.
Our food culture in the US is often riddled with guilt, shame, disconnection. Crash diets, food fads and convenience packaged foods. Whose hands are we thanking for the meal? So often, the answer to that question is not known. Imagine what a cultural shift could be if our mindset around meals, food, nutrition was one of gratitude. Health to your hands, my hands, all hands that went into making this meal possible.
I was asked last Summer if I could change one thing about our food system in the US, what would it be? The first thing that came to my mind was just as nutrition facts and ingredients are listed, transparently listing the number of steps that was taken to get to your hands. Awareness of where our food is coming from, and how many steps it took to get there I believe is invaluable.
A way of giving thanks I will sometimes do before a meal is looking at my plate and seeing all of the hands that went into making it: my own, the bagger at the grocery check-out, stocker at the grocer, truck driver, food packer, food processor (washing, etc), food picker, plant waterer, seed planter, etc. And that’s just for a simple fruit or vegetable.
Now, I’ll have something to add to that pre-meal meditation to help invoke gratitude. Health to your hands. All of the hands. Ellerine sağlık!
Note: there is another Turkish phrase which is more equivalent to bon apetit: Afiyet olsun (ah-fee-YET ol-soon) - may it be good for your appetite. We said this as well, but I personally preferred the sentiment and meaning behind Ellerine sağlık.
