It has now become clear that the entire production and supply chain ultimately pays a high price for "cheap", and we should really ask ourselves whether we want and can afford this in the long term. Retail has finally realized that this can easily lead to a dead end and is increasingly focusing on regionality, animal husbandry standards, the environment and sustainability. The Corona crisis in particular has brought many new customers to farm and organic marketers. Due to home office work, the quick business lunch in the canteen is often no longer possible. In addition to to-go and delivery services, people are happy to provide for themselves more again, because even the grocery shopping of individual products provides a "highlight", a shopping experience in a time marked by exit restrictions. When doing the weekly shop for home preparation, people are increasingly looking for high-quality products. There are many reasons for this rollback.

The value of enjoyment
Every culture has culturally determined rules about who can eat what, how, with whom, where and when - or not. These are partly religiously motivated (for example, the separation of milk and meat when preparing food in Judaism, the ban on pork in Islam, pastries or fish on Fridays in Catholicism, etc.). But gender-specific characteristics can also be found in meals: separate meals for men and women (with children), certain wedding rites in Asia, reserved foods for men, food taboos for pregnant women, etc. How and where we eat says something about the social status within a group and the cultural context: eating with a knife and fork, how is the spoon held, or does everyone eat with their hands from a bowl? Do you stand out if you can't eat with chopsticks, if you use your fingers, even if there is no finger food? What posture do you adopt when eating together: sitting on the floor, outside by the campfire or in a dining room on chairs, standing at a standing table, or even lying down like the "ancient Romans"? What we like to eat, what we want to enjoy and what we find disgusting also differs individually, culturally, socially and historically and is constantly changing. As a child, we were often disgusted by foods that we now enjoy eating and vice versa. The story of Suppenkasper makes it clear that food and the ability to enjoy food are educational tools in education. If you ask people what enjoyment means to them, you get very different answers. What is enjoyable for one person is extremely disgusting for another (e.g. brains or a slice of pork snout, etc.). As we all know, taste is a matter of opinion. Nevertheless, there is such a thing as a lowest common denominator of enjoyment.

Central features of enjoyment

Time. Enjoyment has something to do with slowness, not speed or hecticness. When you enjoy something, you are completely at one with yourself; it is almost like a communication with what you have eaten and with yourself.

A certain amount of order is a necessary condition for enjoyment. A table that is set is more conducive to enjoyment than a table on which, for example, laundry is piled up, newspapers or the children's school supplies are lying around, everything is so full that you can hardly put your dishes in a neat position in front of you. Even at a campfire, people want to enjoy the meal together and arrange themselves and the food around the fireplace. Flies, mosquitoes, noise or dogs jumping around spoil the enjoyment.

The quality of the environment (the ambience) must be brought into harmony with your own mood. Food "to go" is not really enjoyable. Eating a roll quickly in a crowded subway has something to do with achieving a feeling of satiety, but not with enjoyment. Having time and being able to enjoy in peace should trigger a feeling of well-being that takes you out of the confines of everyday life and allows you to feel a relaxed sense of space. The ambience, the climate, the geographical location - all of these factors influence our desire for enjoyment!

Communication. We eat with our mouths, and something goes into our bodies; we speak with our mouths, and something goes out of our bodies. Food and thoughts hang on our lips, so to speak. It is almost impossible to argue over an enjoyable meal. At the same time, a dish that goes wrong is often enough to cause bad moods and insults (not just from the cooks). That is why it is so important at family celebrations like Christmas to serve up a good meal and enjoy it together. If everyone ate alone (even if they were sitting at the same table), there would be no good mood, no sense of community - no enjoyable atmosphere. Feelings pass through the stomach and the intestines!

The right amount. Everything that is desirable, that you can enjoy, becomes disgusting when there is too much of a good thing. Weariness, excess, gluttony are the flip side of enjoyment! Disgust is a feeling of extreme constriction. You cannot communicate in a situation in which you are disgusted. The disgusting has no order structure, you want to get away from the disgusting situation, out of the constriction, you can no longer perceive your surroundings properly because you are so caught up in disgust. Disgust is the opposite of enjoyment.

Eating culture. For most people, enjoyment is associated with prepared food. Humans differ significantly from animals in that they no longer eat their food raw, but rather cook, fry, bake, grill and then eat or enjoy it. It is certainly not far-fetched that the cultivation of food began when one of our early ancestors developed a taste for a piece of meat that had perhaps accidentally fallen into the embers. In this case, a "grill master" would be responsible for the ape becoming human. Prepared food is also easier to digest - an essential aspect of sustainable enjoyment.

CONCLUSION:

• Enjoying food takes time and is therefore part of a slowing down strategy.
• Enjoyment comes from experiences that have a positive connotation. This begins with the environment
  (exogenous stimuli). Later, the positive impressions become established in our body through taste experiences in the mouth and other sensory perceptions.
• The value of enjoyment before, during and after a meal cannot be overestimated; it lifts the mood.
• Humans cannot be reduced to pure physicality. Body, mind and soul are essential
  That is why people are always looking for pleasurable experiences.