Food brings people together. It reminds us of home and moments with loved ones both here and long since passed. It is an integral part of our cultural heritage no matter what part of the world you might be from.
Sharing these moments is a part of who we are and can even transcend barriers of race, language, and religion. As such, we often pour our hearts, souls, and love into everything we cook no matter how small or simple. It is also why a rejection of the gesture can sometimes go spectacularly wrong…
Valentine’s Meal
Valentine’s Day is meant to be a holiday to celebrate our significant others – a night of chocolate, flowers, dinner, and romance. Many couples take it as a chance to go out, a change of pace from their usual flow, while a significant number opt to stay in and pamper each other.
Dine In
The latter was the case for Jodi and her boyfriend Jason. The couple decided that rather than just going out it would be nice to stay in, spend time together, and have a nice home cooked meal. It was something they had been meaning to do for some time…
Pasta Lovers
Jodi was cooking a simple pasta dish. Nothing especially fancy, mind you, but it was the act itself that was caring, not the meal. Sitting down at the table Jodi plated some of the pasta for herself and Jason and they began to dig in.
How Is It?
After a few bites, Jodi turned to Jason and asked, “How is it?” It was an honest question. After all, most people want to know that their cooking is appreciated. He replied that it was “OK”. A neutral answer but nothing that would warrant what would transpire…
Overcooked
As it turned out Jodi didn’t take that answer very well. One might expect someone to be disappointed in that answer, upset perhaps. A flat neutral “OK” is an answer that lacks care and gratitude, especially after someone took the time to cook for you. As it turns out, Jodi was neither upset nor disappointed. Jodi went immediately to anger.
Assalted
Jodi began to assault Jason, beating him over the head and throwing his things into the parking lot below. Her yelling and shouting prompted neighbors to call the police to deal with the clearly domestic disturbance that was taking place…
A Barricade
When police arrived on the scene they discovered that Jodi had barricaded herself into the apartment and refused to let officers in. She told the officers that if any of them came in she would kill them. It was a bit more than an overreaction.
Clear the Area
Police were forced to evacuate the building, and posted on their Twitter account that the public are advised to remain away from the area. Over the next few hours police worked to talk Jodi down and allow them into the apartment…
Giving Up
At some point in their negotiations, Jodi surrendered and was taken into custody for threatening an officer and assault. While in police custody Jodi reportedly stated that she has bipolar disorder and wasn’t actually a monster.
Emotions High
In the end, this strange tale of violence over pasta ended there and no one else got hurt. Sometimes people let their emotions run high and even a small slight will set them off.
Being Mindful
An easy lesson can be learned from this: be kind and show gratitude when someone goes out of their way to do something for you. Even if something tastes “OK,” it’s the effort that counts. We learn this as children, but sometimes as adults we forget.
Learning to Share
Moving on to our next tale, we want to emphasize the importance of sharing…as elementary as that sounds. We all learn in school to share with each other, but the following story reminds us that, just like showing gratitude, sharing is something that sometimes goes out the window as we enter adulthood…
Grilled Cheese
This was exactly the situation that Daniel Blackwell and his wife found themselves in one Sunday night. Apparently that Sunday evening Daniel was home and decided to make himself a grilled cheese. A simple, delicious, and cheesy comfort food, to end the weekend with.
Stolen Bite
As it turns out though, as anyone who has ever been in a relationship can tell you, whatever food you happen to have, also belongs to them. As soon as Daniel’s grilled cheese was fresh off the pan and on a plate, his wife came by and stole the first bite…
Fire Away
In an immediate fit of rage, Daniel pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the air in the kitchen. Then, as his wife reached to call for help, Daniel ripped the phone from the wall…
Hostage Situation
Alerted by the gunshots from the apartment next door, police were notified and arrived on the scene to a hostage situation. As it turned out, Daniel barricaded himself and his wife into the apartment with an unknown number of weapons…
Stepping Out
Minutes turned to hours as police worked to defuse the potentially deadly standoff. It took authorities more than three hours before Daniel stepped out of the apartment and was immediately taken into custody.
An Expensive Meal
When Daniel was unarmed at the time of the arrest, over a dozen weapons were found within the apartment and he was charged with attempted murder and assault…
Overly Stressed
Both of these stories show how close to the edge some people can be. The smallest slight can set them off and before their significant others new it, the police had to get involved after things got violent. Be mindful of your partner’s stressors. Maybe these couples shouldn’t have even been together in the first place…
Be Grateful and Share!
Two lessons we’ve learned from these tragic and bizarre stories are 1) always show appreciation if someone cooks for you and 2) share food with those that you love.
