BTBF Reflections: What I Eat

I find it interesting that I saw so much of myself reflected in the images of these complete strangers. Yes, I eat rice. I eat sandwiches. I eat the same or similar meats and vegetables. I drink juice and coffee. In fact, some of the pictures that were based in African countries directly related to me because I am Nigerian. I was able to recognize the similarities in our traditional meals and/or ingredients. While these similarities made experiencing What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets engaging, they are not the foundation of the reflection I found. 

As I read about Marble Moahi, I thought about how the responsibilities I have to others and myself impact how I eat. She is both a mother and a survivor of HIV/AID. She considers her medication a part of her meal. While the weight of our responsibility regarding health may be different, I thought back to the iron pills that I take everywhere I go and understand why she included her medication. While I am not a mother, I think back to how my mother gives me the bigger piece of beef or gives me more rice and wonder if she does the same. I think back to all the things I eat or cook solely because my sister and my brother like them. I wonder if the foods on her table have the same story. I don't know much about kcals, but I would assume 900 is a small amount for daily consumption. However, as I look at the smile on her face and think about all the times money was tight after my family moved to America, I smile back at Moahi. 

As I read about Alamin Hasan, I think about the food that comes with environment. He looks young, but works at a railway station. Included in his day's worth of food are what I assume are cigarettes. I have never smoked, but I did think about the first place I ever called home in this country and how the stairways taught me what weed smells like. I thought about how in my new home I have only smelt weed once or twice. I wonder if those cigarettes would be in his diet if he was not a porter. I wonder if he would still know the taste of a cigarette if he had any control in choosing that environment. I wonder if I would know the smell of weed if I had any control in choosing my environment. 

Moahi and Hasan were two out of many. Because I saw so much of myself reflected in these strangers, I learned a little more about my own diet. And, these strangers became a little less strange. It's crazy that what a person eats can say so much about who they are and trigger such a curiosity and willingness, or at the very least eagerness, to learn and understand them. Nevertheless, I am not surprised about the hidden yet apparent potency of food. 

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