Food for Thought

The purpose of all beings that inhabit this planet is to survive and procreate. Any organism you look at will always have some or the other variation of this, but always in line with the primal instinct. And the first thing that one does to survive is look for food.

Food is an often overlooked but yet over-stated portion of humanity's evolutionary process. Overlooked because of the actual struggle every meal required at the end of the Ice Ages, but over-stated nowadays due to the sheer number of options one has to eat.

In colder and older times, consideration was given to foods that could fill you up for a long time, so that you wouldn't have to go look for food for a few more days.

Industrialization changed all of that. The manufacturing complex created a vast and intricate supply chain, guaranteeing ever-present food for those who could afford it. 

There is a Sanskrit proverb "अति-परिचयाद्-अवज्ञा", which basically goes on to say that with the ubiquity of something, it becomes useless, much like valuable sandalwood in the hills being used as mere fuel for the cooking stove.

This is not unlike how food has become now. It has become less and less revered among those who do not feel true hunger. We are in a time, after all, when thinness is the most coveted beauty standard. 

In the olden days, a stout man was highly respected, because he had the food to become that stout. And now, a stout man is viewed with only the purpose of gymming. 

Yes, we have understood a lot about the human body since ancient times, and know that fatness is quite detrimental to one's health. But at some point between here and there, the whole principle of health was lost, and it was all about public perception.

Anyway, I digress.

In order to come back to the original point, I wrote this because I had the amazing idea to not eat a meal on a train. What I ended up doing was eating half and throwing away half. I had a heavy lunch, and the evening did not end up being kind to me. 

In my mind, this is an unpardonable offense on my part, as that could've fed someone that was actually hungry. I have not wasted food since I was in my 1st standard, when I shamelessly threw away a whole box of chitranna without eating it. Karma had its way though, because the box was later eaten, plastic and all, by a bandicoot. I then understood my idiocy and tried not to waste food as much as possible. But even the best designs fail when such circumstances arise. 

I felt horrible after doing that. Such good food, so difficult to grow and obtain, and I was unable to eat it because my stomach was already full.

Eating when you're not hungry is something I consider disgusting, as the food goes neither to you nor to someone who's actually hungry.

If you read till here, congratulations.