Being a relatively “poor” student, I am sometimes forced to eat foods that I buy only for the reason that it is affordable, just like the inhabitants of Zumbagua are limited to foods that they can afford (Weismantel). Cup of Noodles, or other packaged, ready-to-eat foods are often on my grocery list. They are easy to make, cheap, and umm… well, tasty enough to swallow I guess. On days where I just have no money available to buy something nutritious, it’s the only thing I CAN eat, even if I don’t want to.
Of course I prefer to eat fresh meats and vegetables. Vegetables are probably my favorite foods. You can almost taste the nutritional value in them, and they are so versatile. You can cook them, boil them, sautee them, eat them raw, incorporate them in sauces, or have them stand-alone as a snack. Vegetables are great, because they make food come alive with their colors, textures, flavors, etc. Being such a fan of “fresh” food, I am NOT a big fan of what I like to call “plastic” or “cardboard’ flavors. The foods that have these kind of flavors just don’t taste like food. Call me picky, but I like tasting the explosion of flavors in my mouth, as opposed to the flavor that lasts a mere 3 seconds and then is gone forever. Commodified taste has also forever changed my opinion of certain “real” foods. Some candies, like jelly beans, come in all sorts of different flavors; cherry, berry, coconut, just to mention a few. Unfortunately some of these flavors don’t come even close to the real taste of the fruit they are trying to copy. Cherry flavor, for example, tastes completely different from an actual cherry. What a shame. I now stay away from cherries, just because the word “cherry” brings up the memory of the fake cherry taste.
When I think about it, I stay away from most foods that have artificial flavors in it (with the exception of the occassional cup of noodles, that is). Whereas i used to buy pre-made sauces or soups, I now make them myself. At least I then know what’s in it…
