FAST FOOD
[mass noun] Easily prepared processed food served in snack bars and restaurants as a quick meal or to be taken away. (The Oxford English Dictionary)
There’s a tenner in my pocket and I know it will feed me today. If I spend it sparingly, I can get a croissant from Pret-A-Manger, a yogurt pot and tea for lunch, and a microwave meal from the Cost-Cutter next to my building with perhaps a few pence to spare for a candy bar. This diet is not healthy. I know. And it probably has some people rolling their eyes or clutching their KALE sweatshirts purchased after Beyoncé’s 7/11. I just happen to enjoy the fact that this is what I eat.
I’ve never been an adventurous eater. Trust me, my idea of eating something outside the norm peaked last year when I discovered that onions on burgers were actually delicious. Still doesn’t mean I’ll touch an onion ring. While my dietary choices started as a fussy child, they developed into an easily disgusted and altogether non-culinary adult. I mean it. I am a mess in the kitchen to the point that I have accepted my fault and found a way around it.
That’s why I eat out so much: it’s easy, it’s cheap (if you do it right), and it doesn’t require an iota of skill on my part. I’m not eating cheeseburgers with onions for every meal. I make sure to intersperse it. But I would certainly say that I have my favorite stops and I know what I like on it.
Lately, there has been a resurgence of healthy quick service restaurants – which I love. Sometimes this can bite me retrospectively. For instance, I should have never tried the gluten free chicken Caesar salad wrap from [redacted]. But you live and you learn.
But other times it fits my hectic schedule perfectly. I’m a master’s student living in dorm facilities. Rather than fight with the younger residents for kitchen space, I can simply go next door and find something that suits me. I’m even getting my degree in a major global city, which means the variety of food at my doorstep is unparalleled. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of that?
And before you start getting on me about the cholesterol I must be ingesting, the damage I am doing to my body – watch it. I’m active. I take my health seriously. And after twenty-four years of living in it, I am beginning to reach a point where perhaps it should be understood that I know it better than anyone else.
I think what it comes down to is that I’m tired of defending my diet. It’s my body. My rules. And I just happen to think I’m doing alright.
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