After my first experience with chai I was positive that I would never be a fan. It was on my second last day in Kenya at café situated in a very western shopping mall (sadly it just highlights how our western influences are slowly – and sometimes not so slowly – permeating every corner of the earth). I figured where better to try chai for the first time than a nation whose food is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine? Unfortunately, the drink in question was lacking in flavour and sickly sweet. So much so that I struggled to finish it, which is saying something as I pride myself in not being a fussy eater. By that point I was on my last few Kenyan shillings, therefore it was disappointing to see them disappear on such an ordinary beverage. The memory sticks out as it was one of the only ‘negative’ encounters that I experienced during my five weeks in Kenya. Is it too strange to say that the chai was more mood-dampening than my brush with typhoid? It probably is, but after hearing so much praise about chai I had very high (and perhaps unreasonable) expectations. Continue reading
Put your hand up if you have sat down to a wonderful meal/dessert and thoroughly enjoyed eating it but come away clutching a prominent food baby. *Raises hand guiltily* It’s not fun. Why is it that we regularly punish ourselves by eating too much good food? And by good food I’m not referring to unhealthy food – though that is one of the worst culprits for over-indulgence – it could be your morning granola or the stir-fry you had for dinner last night. You’re probably wondering why this crazy lady is making such a big deal about eating more food than one should have, especially if it doesn’t happen all the time. Well I’m all for splurging from time to time, don’t get me wrong, however when it goes rampant and results in a horrible bloated sensation and needing to loosen your trousers (or put on your fat pants) it’s not so amusing. Am I starting to make more sense? Sure it can be fun to moan about it for a few minutes but then the realisation sinks in. “I just ate a delicious meal and now feel downright queasy. Why oh whyyyyyyy did I eat it all?.” If you hadn’t already cottoned on, I’m well practiced in self-inflicted food pain. But things are going to change. I have now made a pledge to alter my ways. Why? Because not only is it a bad (and uncomfortable) habit, it’s actually pretty wasteful. Why bother eating a scrumptious meal, only to wish you hadn’t done so straight afterwards? I’m not referring to the guilt associated with overeating (though that does play a part), nor am I really even talking about putting on weight. For now it’s the wasted pleasure that I want to discuss. 
Remember the great banana famine of 2011? The year that a single banana cost more than a chocolate bar? It was tough times for banana lovers. The devastation wreaked by Cyclone Yasi in northern Queensland virtually wiped out the state’s entire banana crop and consequently prices were driven through the roof (Queensland produces ninety percent of Australia’s bananas). You may wonder why I am taking a trip down memory lane. Well, because it is so very easy to forget how things were when times were tough. A week or two ago I bought ten bananas for $2. That’s far cry from paying $2 for one measly banana just a few years back. When produce is readily available and in abundance one can fall into the trap of failing to value it to the degree it deserves. The old adage “you never miss a good thing until it’s gone” is certainly true. I’m not just rambling on about bananas for the sake of it – the waste part is coming up very soon.
Taste Without Waste 