I’m having a hard time equating the way I eat certain foods with ritual, and I think the difficulty arises from what I know of ritual. I am a recovered Episcopalian and a fallen Freemason, both organizations value high ritual. To be more specific, I was a High-Church Episcopalian, and the Freemasons live and breathe ritual.
So when I hear “ritual,” I think of processing, marching, presenting, sanctifying, and reciting. None of that goes into anything I eat.
In one sense, everything I eat is ritualized, because I eat at the table almost exclusively. I can’t eat in my easy chair. I am not comfortable there. I eat occasionally at the counter in the kitchen, but for the most part, I prepare my food and eat seated at the table.
When I was a child, I loved little chocolate-covered donuts. I used to eat them in a circle. I ate around the outside and then popped the hole in all at once. But I stopped eating waxy chocolate many decades ago.
I learned to eat camembert in Normandy. I start with good, ripe camembert that I let come to room temperature. I tear off a good hunk of baguette and smother it with rich butter and then shovel on a large helping of camembert. I eat this mound with great relish and many oos and ahs. come to think of it, I eat most food with many oos and ahs. I like to eat. It’s probably my favorite hobby actually.