The Great Human Magnet

What is it about cooking that brings us together?  I just finished a corporate training session where 13 top executives of a big company came together and made dinner. We joked around, I had directions for them, we were well organized,  but still it was the cooking that made it happen.  Maybe it was the fact that unlike almost everything we do, cooking a meal has a beginning, a middle and an end  When we're done we can see something tangible for our work. See, there it is, I made a meal.

We broke into teams and we did some contests.  We cooked coke marinated steak and red pepper pasta.  There were onion rings, new potatoes and a salad.  As they ate I "regaled" the with stories of the wild world of internet video. 

But when we were done eating, there was a calmness, a stillness.  Somehow working together in groups to bring about a foodie conclusion scratched an itch these executives couldn't otherwise reach.  We sat in a calm relaxed silence, only punctuated by a few jokes now and again.

What fun.  What a truly fun evening of cooking, eating and being.

Maybe Congress should do more of this.