For the peer reviews, make sure to be as specific as possible. If you tell your partner, "You have some grammar errors," it's not all that helpful. Instead, point out a specific error, especially one you see often. Give them a specific sentence that they should look at, maybe read out loud, and, of course, revise. For this peer review, I will hold people accountable for their level of specificity with their comments. 1 Patricia Karaffa Professor Monica D’Antonio English 101 – Rough Draft – Essay #2 January 2, 2016 TITLE When we are born, the first thing that happens in our precious lives, is that we are placed on our mother’s bosom. The immediate contact, immediate skin to skin connection, immediate breastfeeding is the first bonding experience we will ever have. It has been suggested that prompt breastfeeding after birth has a multitude of healthy benefits for both the mother and child. As a baby this is the very first positive and nurturing experience they have. Food can be sustenance, a means for survival or a source of nourishment or refreshment. But it can also be so much more; food shared with family, can be the focal point that satiates our need for love, security, and happiness. When a family gathers for food; whether it is for daily dinner or larger celebrations, it is a great way for a family to bond. Just like our first skin to skin contact or first breastfeeding, this willing convergence of two or more people can be a very intimate way of connecting with others. If you harvest your own food with another family member or prepare the ingredients together; this will only increase the bonding experience. This time spent together gives way for conversations to start which are continued right to table and possibly beyond . Prize-winning journalist, Connie Schultz writes of her family bonding experience over something as simple as TV dinners. Schultz’s essay, Heat, Tray, Love, details her experience and memories as a child eating these simple “no-work-no-mess partitioned meals” (115). Schultz remembers back to when she was approximately six years of age when this tradition or ritual; as she calls it, began. Schultz recounts the “unrivaled joy that leapt from the heart of the child I used to be whenever that ridge of aluminum prevented a triangle of peas from mingling with the triangle of mashed potatoes” (114). With this visual mnemonic, Schultz knew what was to follow. The newly purchased TV tray tables with “metal legs and pictures of autumn leaves on the plastic table tops” (115) would be brought out so all could gather. This ongoing time of bonding with her family seems to rival no other. Kate Delany, recounts a much more intimate experience of bonding with her sister. In Delany’s poem “Ditching”; she depicts a period of time during high school when a “glut of carbohydrates” (2) was more important than High Mass. The topics of conversation; “my best friend on coke again, your bankrupt boyfriend, our little si.

1. For the peer reviews, make sure to be as specific as possible. If
you tell your partner, "You have some grammar errors," it's not
all that helpful. Instead, point out a specific error, especially
one you see often. Give them a specific sentence that they
should look at, maybe read out loud, and, of course, revise. For
this peer review, I will hold people accountable for their level
of specificity with their comments.
1
Patricia Karaffa
Professor Monica D’Antonio
English 101 – Rough Draft – Essay #2
January 2, 2016
TITLE
When we are born, the first thing that happens in our
precious lives, is that we are placed on our mother’s bosom.
The immediate contact, immediate skin to skin connection,
immediate breastfeeding is the first bonding experience we will
ever have. It has been suggested that prompt breastfeeding after
birth has a multitude of healthy benefits for both the mother and
child. As a baby this is the very first positive and nurturing
experience they have. Food can be sustenance, a means for
survival or a source of nourishment or refreshment. But it can
also be so much more; food shared with family, can be the focal
point that satiates our need for love, security, and happiness.
When a family gathers for food; whether it is for daily dinner or
larger celebrations, it is a great way for a family to bond. Just
like our first skin to skin contact or first breastfeeding, this
willing convergence of two or more people can be a very
intimate way of connecting with others. If you harvest your
own food with another family member or prepare the
ingredients together; this will only increase the bonding

2. experience. This time spent together gives way for
conversations to start which are continued right to table and
possibly beyond
.
Prize-winning journalist, Connie Schultz writes of her
family bonding experience over something as simple as TV
dinners. Schultz’s essay, Heat, Tray, Love, details her
experience and memories as a child eating these simple “no-
work-no-mess partitioned meals” (115). Schultz remembers
back to when she was approximately six years of age when this
tradition or ritual; as she calls it, began. Schultz recounts the
“unrivaled joy that leapt from the heart of the child I used to be
whenever that ridge of aluminum prevented a triangle of peas
from mingling with the triangle of mashed potatoes” (114).
With this visual mnemonic, Schultz knew what was to follow.
The newly purchased TV tray tables with “metal legs and
pictures of autumn leaves on the plastic table tops” (115) would
be brought out so all could gather. This ongoing time of
bonding with her family seems to rival no other.
Kate Delany, recounts a much more intimate experience of
bonding with her sister. In Delany’s poem “Ditching”; she
depicts a period of time during high school when a “glut of
carbohydrates” (2) was more important than High Mass. The
topics of conversation; “my best friend on coke again, your
bankrupt boyfriend, our little sister’s troubled health”
(10,11,12) were not meant for larger family gatherings. These
topics were much more personal and even had the ability to
bond these sisters closer. These weekly confidential and
cherished instances of bonding were even continued after
arriving home. The scheduled get together used a combination
of the food, the diner and even the waitress to make the bond
these sisters had, even stronger.
Gabrielle Hamilton talks of geographical, generational as
well as language barriers with her extended family in the
excerpt from Blood, Bones, and Butter. All of these mountains

3. were conquered by the shared love of food. Hamilton is used to
a “stainless steel kitchen where the freezers all freeze to precise
Department of Health standards” (173). Her mother-in-law,
Alda, uses crude primitive tools, methods and recipes. Neither
woman speaks the same language but they visit and bond over
food. Alda picks, peels and squeezes the food that they will use
together to make a scrumptious meal. The chef in Hamilton
“longs to sharpen her knife, buy her a new one, use a cutting
board to get uniform, perfect eggplant slices” (173) but she
refrains since she knows that Alda has been “making it this way
for fifty or more years” (173). Despite or because of the
language barrier, their “relationship really thrives” (173).
Hamilton likens the simple acts of when her and Alda “hug and
cook a lot” (173) to a “greater intimacy” (173) than she has
with her own husband. The bond between Hamilton and Alda is
based up the food; from preparation to the table, it is done with
love in spite of the multitude of differences.
All three of these female authors have written about bonds
that have been forged over food. Schultz writes of a time when
she was about six, Delany writes of her high school years and
Hamilton utilizes her adulthood years. Despite the time frame
references, all three women have similar experiences when it
comes to the bonds created. The connections made with their
respective family member(s) was strong, well founded,
unyielding and built to stand the test of time. These
connections were built in some way on or around food. The
coming together of two or more people whether at the Golden
Dawn Diner, in Puglia or over a metal legged TV table formed
connections that are virtually unbreakable. Coming together
over food can do so much. It can lead to conversation, bonding,
as well as good eating habits. Having a meal or cooking
together can also start or perpetuate family traditions, promote
good social skills and promote future positive relationships. No
matter our age; all of these experiences lead back to our first
bonding experience over food; breastfeeding. The initial
bonding moments of skin to skin contact and breastfeeding is

4. one of the most primal forms of caring. As one grows; sharing
a meal with someone or as a group is one of the most universal
ways to bond.
Works Cited
Delany, Kate. “Ditching.” What’s Cooking? NY: Earth’s
Daughters, 2009. Print.
Hamilton, Gabrielle. Blood, Bones, and Butter. NY: Random
House, 2011. 171-173. Print.
Schultz, Connie. “Heat, Tray, Love.” Mirror on America. Joan
T. Mims and Elizabeth M.
Nollen. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 114-115. Print.