My Appreciation for Food

This entry is inspired by Caroline Crosson Gilpin’s article in The Learning Network titled Have You Ever Experienced Food Insecurity? This entry is a part of my daily writing challenge; the mechanics of which you can read here.

After reading Gilpin’s essay on poor students’ struggles on getting food during spring break, it reminded me of how my father changed my attitude towards the food I was eating.

We all had that spiel that our parents told us about finishing our food. My parents would always guilt-trip me into finishing my food which of course was a terrible way of appreciating food. But when my father did some bad decisionmaking on investments, we were immediately in a tight spot. I remember one day when I was eating lunch with my mother, and I cleaned my plate of everything. No grain of rice, no sauce, nothing was left on my plate. I realised what I did, and that brought me back to a time when I would just leave food on my plate.

Times were really hard back then that I only ate once-a-day. During a term in my undergrad, I only had 100Php ($2) in my pocket each day. I could only spend 20Php ($0.40) for food because I had to use the rest for my commute. The only thing I could eat was siopao (Chinese pork bun) that I bought in a stall at the train station each day. That was a rough four months for me.

Now, I truly appreciate food and never complain about the kind of food I eat. Well, except for coffee. I’m willing to pay a premium for that.