Eating What the Locals Eat

It's Tuesday night. And I'm okay. That after a few slices of whole grain bread, some rice with margarin, and a fried egg. I picked up the food box on Friday at the Sally food bank early in the morning. There was extra bread there for the taking. So, I grabbed a couple of loaves -- and lo and behold...they were whole wheat. I'm lucky. Supplies are running low. The pasta is now finished. And I just cooked up half of the rice to eat with a half can of tuna with cream corn mixed in for tomorrow's lunch. It actually doesn't taste half bad.

I work with Markus Schwabe at CBC Radio. He tells me how he's rationing food during the week with his family. And I think this challenge is harder for folks with kids, for sure.Markus told me he was going to be sharing a can of soup with his family for supper last night. Makes me think of famlies, those who aren't doing this for fun. I did offer Markus a loaf of bread and some soup today. He said his wife wouldn't allow him to take it. It would be cheating. I said, "Markus just take it in case you need it." He refused.

There's one thing I'm just wondering about. We're doing this challenge because we want to. But, at the end of it, we're going to be eating at a nice community luncheon and sharing stories about our experiences. Some of us will congratulate ourselves on making it. Others will not. All of us will likely reflect on what this means for people who depend on a food bank to get by. But, is what we're doing a kind of tourism? Dropping in, but then leaving as it suits us. See the locals, eat the what the locals eat, tell stories about what it's like, and then beat it.... Of course, it's all fine and dandy for me to wax philosophical on a full belly ...even if it's stuffed with what the "locals" eat. Thankfully, I have the whole wheat bread to sustain me.