Sugar Cookie Reminiscence

Last week we had an assignment due in my Dietary Behaviour class which revolved around the connection between the food that we like/dislike and how often we eat those foods. We had to fill out two questionnaires, one with a list of foods and how much we like them, and the second had the same list of foods and we had to write down how frequently we ate them (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly...). Then we had to analyze why we eat the way we do and what the reasons were for the foods that we choose to eat regularly. For example, a person may not generally like low-fat milk and give it a low preference score, and yet they consume it everyday because they know that it is good for them. One the other hand, a person may LOVE a food but only consume it a few times a year because it may be expensive, take a long time to prepare or is really bad for you.

On Wednesday is our last Dietary Behaviour class, and our professor asked us to bring a food/beverage which is related to one of the many topics that we discussed throughout the semester. Right now I am making my food item, and it relates to two topics which we talked about in class. I'm making sugar cookies which are cut out into Easter shaped creatures (bunnies, chicks and eggs). How does this relate to food behaviour you ask? Well let me tell you!


Cookies in the shape of little Easter creatures is so incredibly culture centered that it's ridiculous (Topic #1- foods that are related to our culture). Somewhere along the line people forgot that Easter is actually about religion (we love you Jesus!) and not about chocolate eggs, cookies and a giant bunny that brings us presents. So, I think that is it appropriate to bring animal shaped cookies to class to explain that we have all grown up in this western culture in which we celebrate the Easter holiday by consuming copious amounts of calories. Not that I am opposed to that because who doesn't love eating?? (I apologize to anyone reading this with an ED. My bad.)

The second way that these cookies tie into my class is that I am really not a fan of sugar cookies at all, and yet I bake them at least a few times a year to share with the people that I love, and I always eat a few myself (or at least the dough). I have a low preference for this food and yet I go out of my way to make it every so often and really enjoy the entire process. If I were to explain this to my professor, I would tell her that the process of making the dough, rolling it out, cutting it into shapes, the smell of them baking filling the house, and decorating them when they have cooled, all brings me back to my childhood and to my mom. When I was growing up, we were always baking cookies and we would always make extra special ones for special occasions. If it was a time of the year like Easter or Valentine's Day, we would make a huge amount of sugar cookies and all of us girls would bring them to school to share with the class. My mom was always amazing at taking the time to do these fun things with us. I'm so thankful that I had a stay-at-home mom who was always allowing us to create fun projects and letting us terrorize the basement with arts and crafts.

But still, my all-time favourite memory of growing up was standing on a chair and watching my mom bake and her letting me help whenever I could. It made me feel special and capable and is definitely the reason that I love to bake as much as I do (which is totally topic #3 now that I think of it). Now my little niece, who my mom babysits many days of the week, is almost 2 and gets to be the one who stands on the chair and watches my mom (her Nana) bake. The vision of that scene makes me smile and I hope that Cadance learns and appreciates the experience as much as we all did/do. Thanks mom. I love you!