joking but serious, the story of my life

[marcicat]

My workplace is doing some stuff because March is Nutrition Month (I guess?), including asking people to submit recipes that celebrate their cultural heritage. And then -- and this is truly the wildest part to me -- they're going to have a 'panel of experts' analyze all the recipes for cultural significance, nutritional value, and simplicity. And then award prizes, I guess???

IDK, the whole thing seems needlessly complicated to me, but in the spirit of workplace participation, I did consider whether I should send in a recipe. Because avocado toast must count as being culturally significant for millennials, right? It's what we got instead of job security and affordable housing! It's the 'joking but also completely serious' food of a generation!

And yes, submitting such a recipe would be A LITTLE BIT to poke gentle fun at how seriously this 'competition' (why???) is being presented by the powers that be. I like my food to be easy and fun, and I don't think making dinner has to be a big deal.

But it would also be COMPLETELY SERIOUS because I do think avocado toast has a place in the cultural record, plus it's delicious.

Also COMPLETELY SERIOUSLY I think it would be valuable to include some very simple, very customizable recipes in any collection. I think it would make any collection of recipes more widely accessible and interesting!

(And it might make people laugh, because it's also A LITTLE BIT a joke, and I think that has value too.)

(I am definitely not submitting anything. But I did think about it!)

[ETA: I re-read the announcement and realized I forgot to mention that recipes will also be judged on flavor! Gotta be delicious, nutritious, easy, and culturally relevant to win the mystery prizes!]

Comments

[falkner]

What are the prizes for this...

[marcicat]

I went back and re-read the announcement, and all it says is "the top 3 recipes will receive a prize." So it's a mystery!!!

[china_shop]

Your company sounds so weird. Why would you ask for culturally significant recipes AND THEN MAKE IT A COMPETITION?! How do you even analyse for cultural significant? And, again, why?? LOL.

[marcicat]

hahahaha yes! I mean, I think the actual answer is that they just default to calling everything a competition, probably? But it GETS BETTER, because when I went back to re-read the announcement, the title of this event is: "Food Connects Us" Culinary Competition

Which is just -- such a perfect encapsulation of the entire situation.

[china_shop]

LOLOL! Okay, this just makes me think... Like, one of the things I love about personality type systems (enneagram, MBTI, etc) is that they remind me that it's not that some people are ~being me badly~ -- everyone is being themselves perfectly, just as they should (or, at least, most people are). I feel like defaulting everything to a competition is symptomatic of someone who thinks everyone is/should be like them: perceiving the world as a set of competitions. That this is the optimal, funnest, most productive way to live, or something... Maybe they think competitions ARE how you connect with people? /rambling, hi!