Illustration by Patrick McFarlin.
This morning I was reading an article in The Guardian (yes, I do have too much time on my hands) and it struck such a chord that I felt compelled to share, which is kinda funny cos the title of the article was “Not for sharing.”
… I think they call this irony.
ANYWHO, it was a quirky little article discussing what we choose to eat when we’re alone:
“What we choose to eat when no one else is around can range from simple pleasures to the truly bizarre.”
The article begins:
“The foods that we share, the meals that bind us together, have a code that we all implicitly understand. We know that the starter precedes the main course, followed by the dessert. We know that a wedding demands a cake-shaped centerpiece. We know that a bowl of chicken soup, prepared for us when we are ill, is offered with a hope for better health.
But beyond these meals lies a secret realm of food, a universe of individual, often bizarre dishes, eaten by the light of the fridge, or tucked up in bed, or pacing back and forth across the kitchen. These are the meals that we eat when no one else is watching – meals that shrug off all convention and compromise.”
***
It must have struck a chord with others too, as people wrote in from all over with fascinating tales of buttered slices of cheese or tomato-sauce sandwiches for dinner. Stock cubes and uncooked puffed pastry eaten as snacks in front of the telly.
And the reasons as to why were just as peculiar. The full gamut of human emotions came out to play – shame, greed, comfort, embarrassment, scorn, indulgence and everyone’s personal fave – apathy. a.k.a. can’t-be-ar*sedness.
So in the spirit of redemption and solidarity, I’d REALLY REALLY like to know:
What do YOU EAT when you’re alone?
X
Too Yum
So I suppose I should be the one to start eh?
I often famously-slash-loudly say: “Every meal is an opportunity for happiness.”
And I truly believe this, but sometimes (or often) I just can’t be bothered eating something respectable.
Cooking for uno can be such a chore can’t it?
Recent eating alone moments include:
- A dinner of one pork sausage and two tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter.
- A dinner of 5 choc-chip pikelets with raspberry jam.
- A lunch of two tablespoons of guava paste and an avocado.
If H is reading this then I know he’s already prepared a little scolding for me. Sorry H!
And on the guilty naughty horrible pleasure side of things, you can’t beat a frozen cheesecake straight out of the freezer, it’s rock-hard and hard to eat but that’s the beauty of it. (See J, I never kicked the habit!)
In the horrible shameful can’t-believe-I’m-a-food-blogger category there lives KFC Wicked Wings. Seriously when H is away on a business trip I’ll often pick up a box of 10 wings and eat half for dinner and half for breakfast. Gross huh?
And finally for pure comfort I love nothing better than steamed white rice topped with a fried egg and a little soy sauce. Mmm…Asian peasant food.
x
Great article!
I find some of that stuff you eat hilarious – sausage + peanut butter for dinner? Avocado and guava paste for lunch? How is that filling?
Totally understand the pikelots though, breakfast stuff is a meal for anytime in the day.
If I am super lazy I will eat mi goreng with broccoli/katna, or vego hot dogs, or steam some frozen dumplings or eat toast. I also have an out-of-control sweet tooth so you can often find me eating some kind of chocolate or raspberry licorice.
I don’t actually eat anything weird when I’m alone….Is that weird?