While we were in Paris, one of my friends, who is obsessed with food, said something that has stuck with me. She was in the middle of a huge paper submission, no time for anything, but she was cooking herself an awesome treat. And I said to her, "You don't have time for what you're making right now! Just have some cereal and work." This was also the time when all of us were very worried about our finances, looking for baby-sitting and other odd jobs to satisfy our greed to travel. But here she was never missing a chance to eat. And she said to me, "My father always says, what do you earn for, what do you work for if it's not to eat? You work, earn to primarily fill your stomach, to eat." That made so much sense. Had never thought of it like that. I had always taken it or granted. We were/are so caught up in saving for that awesome dress, or that trip to Nice, or to buy more credit on the phone that eating wasn't such a big priority. I feel that even now, we don't spend time on eating, we entirely take it for granted.
But isn't it really something to think about? Which one of us earns to 'eat'?!
I cannot help but deviate to the pitiful condition of not just our own perspectives on eating but also those who make it available for us. The forgotten farmer. He works, and tills, sows and grows and thinks of suicide providing for us and we fight for a one and two rupee bargain with our local vendor. Can you imagine the bureaucracy that the veggies have faced until it reaches the vendor you buy from a bunch of spinach leaves for Rs10? The farmer gets close to nothing! It's irony that he and his family choose death over hunger.
Yes, it's the system and no, I don't think I have the power or the personal strength to stand up for them, but I do have it in my capability to appreciate, to remember and to pray for the ones who do all the hard work.
How often do we waste food? Like the cynics would comment, "It's not like the food we waste magically lands into the plate of a starving child in Africa" but it's about acknowledging the value of it. How often we forget our basic needs when we have them in abundance. That includes a lot of things, but I won't get into that right now!
Thanks Manka for sharing that casual statement you did in Paris! I love your spirit towards food and life in general! :)
I've meant to share this story a long time ago but for those who know me, you know I procrastinate. :/
But isn't it really something to think about? Which one of us earns to 'eat'?!
I cannot help but deviate to the pitiful condition of not just our own perspectives on eating but also those who make it available for us. The forgotten farmer. He works, and tills, sows and grows and thinks of suicide providing for us and we fight for a one and two rupee bargain with our local vendor. Can you imagine the bureaucracy that the veggies have faced until it reaches the vendor you buy from a bunch of spinach leaves for Rs10? The farmer gets close to nothing! It's irony that he and his family choose death over hunger.
Yes, it's the system and no, I don't think I have the power or the personal strength to stand up for them, but I do have it in my capability to appreciate, to remember and to pray for the ones who do all the hard work.
How often do we waste food? Like the cynics would comment, "It's not like the food we waste magically lands into the plate of a starving child in Africa" but it's about acknowledging the value of it. How often we forget our basic needs when we have them in abundance. That includes a lot of things, but I won't get into that right now!
Thanks Manka for sharing that casual statement you did in Paris! I love your spirit towards food and life in general! :)
I've meant to share this story a long time ago but for those who know me, you know I procrastinate. :/
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