greens
many nights i will make dinner for both myself and my best friend, caitie. we have always been busy people, but with this week being midterm week for her, yesterday i thought it would be nice to whip something up and bring it down to her school. the meal wasn't all that hard to put together, and i wanted to be more elaborate with it, but just ran out of time. i met her in the halls of her school, down in the bowels of the empire state building, and handed over the meal. carefully peeking into each container, she picked at the cucumbers and stuffed a slice into her mouth."wow, this is good," she said enthusiastically. her boyfriend, elijah, took a bite. "mir, what did you put in this? this tastes great."
my eyes squinted in wonder and my head tilted ever so slightly to the right, i wondered why they were so surprised at the taste of this cucumber. they wondered what flavors i had added to make it so delicious when the reality was that i added nothing to it at all. sliced up and placed in the container, the simple food remained free from anything that would take away from its natural taste. yet for whatever reason, their mouths were in awe of it.
as i thought about this particular scenario this morning, it occured to me. in this city - the great city of New York, we are surrounded by a plethora of cultures all containing foods with complex flavors and unique methods of cooking. the temptation is to indulge in many of these on a regular basis. with so many to choose from, eating well here in this city doesn't have to be boring, although it usually requires a decent amount of money. those who lack the resources to eat well usually are left to eat cheap - artificial flavors, preservatives, canned whatevers.
could it be that we have forgotten what it tastes and feels like to eat fresh things? i know for myself, i do not eat nearly as many fruits and vegetables to sustain me. and now that i am unemployed and budgeting very tightly, my awareness of what i am eating has increased tremendously. and believe it or not, i have managed to not only buy fresh, quality foods, but i've done so on about $20 a week. this is a miracle to do this here in New York. to this i say, thank you, fairway market, angel food ministries and trader joe's!
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