Day 10 - Thinking About Food
The experiment is 1/3 over today, and even though it has only been 10 days, I’m already thinking about food in a very different way than I used to.
Because the company I work for hosts a number of awards ceremonies, receptions and other events, I find myself staring at hotel catering menus a lot when I’m trying to price things out. I was talking to my boss about one such event today and she asked if looking at so many gourmet meals made me hungry all day. I thought about it for a second, and the answer is simply, “no.”
I am hungry a lot, but it doesn’t really overwhelm my thoughts. Before this month, when I thought about food, I thought about taste. Did I want cheese on my burger or did I want chili on my fries? Hell yes I did. It tasted better that way. Salt, Tabasco, sugar, grease… it was all delicious and if I didn’t get it, I somehow felt like I was being robbed of the full dining experience.
Living on a dollar a day, taste isn’t an issue. It all tastes the same. Bread, noodles, beans, rice… it’s all pretty much the same thing. And since you know that’s all you’re really going to be eating, you stop thinking about taste.
This month, all food is the same food. All that matters is that you get it, not how it tastes. And since the flavor and intrigue of food is gone, so is the fun in thinking about it. Food becomes mechanical rather than entertaining. So no, I don’t think about food all day long.
posted by Evan at 8:33 PM
8 Comments:
I feel the exact same way about food! 3 to 4 meals a day for 8,000 days, and diminishing marginal utility really sets in.
You should've put more thought in your choices. A dollar really can buy you decent food. You could even get a burger for .99 at fast food places. Or go to chinese markets. Or 99 cent stores that carry food.
A pack of chinese veggies (like bok choi) that you only have to boil and maybe eat with a little oyster sauce costs less than a dollar. The taste of that is at least much different from just rice and more rice.
Europe has apologised many times for Big Brother in the past; this is ancient history now.
Let us live together in harmony and never mention it again. For our part we will never speak of the illegal export of 'everybody loves Raymond' from the US.
I spent 5 years in the Canadian Forces Army Reserves. By the time you are done your basic training you really don't care what food tastes like... you just EAT!
Now when someone asks me how something tastes I have to stop and think about it. I've often been out with people who are complaining about the food and I'm sitting there thinking that it's just fine!
"You should've put more thought in your choices. A dollar really can buy you decent food. You could even get a burger for .99 at fast food places..."
Yeah, it's true that there are more foods out there that could fit into the budget and add some variety, but if your budget is only a dollar a *day*, a .99 burger is out of the question. Unless you're gonna cut it into thirds and ration it out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I haven't read yet any more recent posts, but, dude, ever hear of a food bank? Maybe it's different in your part of the country, but here in San Francisco in the past I've had to spend many a Friday morning waiting in line with a great cross-section of society for the food bank to open. The reward? Bread, veggies and fruits, canned foods, boxes of cereal, the occasional cookies or treats, grains, beans... That left all my $20 in food money available for things like milk and butter. I've lived way healthier than your project, and on far less money! Come to think of it, I think I ate way healthier in general than I do now, because I was forced to cook actual beans and grains and stuff, whereas I now eat out once or twice a day...
I'd end up spending the $30 in two days.
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www.tawny-kitaen.com
GAWD! I wish I had to starve for ONLY a month instead of going on 2 frickin' years, already!!!
U will not BELIEVE the compliments u get from losing weight (via not eating) when everyone is used 2 seeing u obese.
Amazing
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