Did someone say cookies?

What's the one thing that regardless of who we are, where we live or what fancy-pants car we drive, we all have in common? We all eat. Food is the unifying factor that everyone can relate to and that everyone has an opinion about. Whether it be what the last most amazing meal you had was or how tragically your favorite restaurant closed its doors, every person I know has a story involving something so simple that we often as North Americans take for granted. Food.

Food can grease the wheels of social interaction at any occasion - board meetings, open houses, dates(!), you name it. Even those little candies at the front desk of any establishment say "hey, I don't know you, but here, have a mint." Weddings are another good example, where it's quite possible that you'll be sitting at a table with people you barely know - if all else fails conversationally, at least you can talk about how good the food is, right?

We not only use food as a social unifier, but we are drawn to it and motivated by it. I once walked upwards of 14 blocks in 30 degree Celcius heat in search of sushi - but this was not any sushi...this was Umi sushi (utterly spectacular, by the way) and despite the requirement of the iPhone Urban Spoon app, a GPS and a 8 block back-track, it was worth every step.

Those of you who know me well, know that food is not only a social binding agent, or a motivator, but it's a passion of sorts - I take great pride in my creations and there's nothing I love more than spending my day off in the kitchen baking cookies or simmering a pot of homemade soup. I'd dare to make the argument that a lot of our memories are triggered by a taste, or a smell (sometimes good, sometimes not so much) and that food is more of an experience rather than "something we have to do."

Now if you don't mind, there's a cookie with my name on it.....it calls to me.