NPO, Food, Drink, and Culture
So I ended up in the hospital due to pneumonia. I'm over the pneumonia, but still NPO. I'm actually not at the hospital, but in a nursing home, in which I have more freedom than in the hospital. (To move around at least...) There are some activities, too. However, NPO, which is an abbreviation of nil per os, a Latin phrase meaning "nothing by mouth." The one good thing at the hospital was that they were letting me have things to driink. Here, I am only allowed to eat and drink with the therapist, and this severely limits my time. (For purely survival sustenance, I am being given food boluses directly into my stomach.) Being restricted from actual food for this long makes me notice how pervasive food is in culture.
Food gives more than nutrition. It provides pleasure, encourages camaraderie, brings out a creative side, provides inspiration, and more.
At a party or event, what is often secondary to the actual event is often the food. If there is not any there, it is commonplace for people to attend restaurants. At parties and social gatherings, the food allows people who may have very little in common to find something on which they agree.
Food is also art. Look at all the cooking programs and competitions. Wanting a snack every now and then is normal, and sometimes just grabbing something that is already assembled will not satisfy. The snacker's own creativity comes into play, and food becomes and art form.
Also food gives us inspiration for naming things. Pet names and human nicknames are often food-related. Sometimes, things that are not food will be named after food, because that is how they look.
One would think that letting me have drinks might be possible, but no....
It would be nice.
Even if food is not present at an event, sometimes just drinks will be.
In summer, you often want a nice, cold ____.
In winter, it's a nice, warm mug of ____.
So while drinks are nowhere near as pervasive as food, they do have their place, and would be, for me, a welcome thing in my life!