Ben and Food

My friend Barbara and I recently ate dinner at our local "Irish pub." Ben was with us. We ate shepherds pie and salad and bread pudding. I asked Ben if he enjoyed the meal and he said, "I liked the steak." He repeated several times that we ate steak and he enjoyed it. I reported this interesting behavior to his inner circle of friends  And he said, 
"I'm here. You don't have to talk about me like I'm invisible."  
One of his friends pointed out that as far as we are concerned he is invisible. And from there the dialogue went like this: 
D: Sorry. I just thought it was interesting that you made such a point of insisting we ate   steak. 
B: I can have steak whenever I want to. 
D: I can't. Not if I'm eating something else. 
B: You could if you understood that food is just vibration like everything else. 
It's the way you interpret the vibrations that make one food different from another.
D: Not the plant or animal it comes from or the way it is processed and prepared and served?
B: I like the steak. 
D: You are sounding like a broken 45 rpm record.
B: It's okay to be a record. I like steak.
D: Are you making a point?
B: If we go to another restaurant we should order steak.
D: And then will you claim it's shepherd's pie?
B: No. I will claim it's bread pudding with caramel sauce. 
D: How about if I cook a steak for you at home?
B: I think that is a great idea.
One of the friends asked why Ben insisted he had been eating steak.
B: I was eating steak with the people at another table.
D: So I really was eating shepherd's pie while you were eating steak?
B: I was eating steak and shepherds pie and carrots and spicy shrimp.
D: Were you eating with everyone?
B: No. I was eating with the people who were eating something I like.
D: Do you always do that? 
B: I pretty much enjoy everything anyone eats if I am in the mood.
D: Do you ever eat with any of the your FB friends?
B: Whenever somebody thinks about me like they want me to come there, I eat with them and try to make them eat something I like.
D: And never gain an ounce.
B: I never gain a milligram!
One of the friends commented on how Ben's tastes had changed since he first came to stay with me and wanted me to eat cake frosting at all hours of the night and day. 
B: I don't eat frosting all the time. I hardly ever eat frosting anymore. I was going through a phase when I used to wake Donya up in the middle of the night to give me frosting.  I'm mostly grown up now.

Readers might notice that Ben comes across as somewhat childlike or even childish in this conversation.  He explained to me shortly after we met, that because he is outside of time, everything happens at once.  He is therefore, every age he ever was, or ever could have been, in his Ben lifetime. He can choose what age he will be when he communicates with me or other Phyzzies.  He often comes across as very young and cute (or bratty) when Barbara is present. 

Readers might find it interesting that Ben was a vegetarian before he died.  He explains that he doesn't feel a need to avoid meat now since he has met so many slaughtered animals in the TSP. He says they don't have any more interest in their used bodies than he has in his.  Whether their bodies are used for food or anything else does not concern them. However, what Ben still feels strongly about is that all animals should be treated as humanely as possible whatever their ultimate destiny on earth.  Ben is a big fan of Temple Grandin who has made a career of developing more humane animal handling systems and promoting higher standards in slaughter plants and livestock farms.