Sean: “I’ve made some congee for us”

Daryl: “Food?! Yay!”

eating…

Sean: “How is it?”

Daryl: “Tastes like rice, water and salt.”

Day 2, a Sunday, is the day where I begin to realise how much I look forward to eating in my everyday life. Paradoxically it’s while I have these realisations about how much I love eating that I also come to see how much I take it for granted, and how mindless I can be when eating and preparing food.

When on a limited food ration each step on the way to eating becomes significant. The determination to get every kernel of rice that rattles around the bottom of an empty package, the precaution taken when straining cooking water, the appreciation of the smells of cooking when walking up the stairwell – all of these become fixation points. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, and it’s certainly not like we’re seriously ‘going hungry’, but it’s amazing how quickly the body and mind tune in to try to stretch every meal, every ration, just a bit farther. Sean has even taken to serving dinner in small ice cream bowls as it tricks us into believing there’s more food in proportion to bowl.

Refugee life…. is certainly much harder than this. Send some love their way. https://my.rationchallenge.org.au/t/shoda1