Alright, before I begin this post, I want to put a disclaimer: I am not a food critic! In fact, I hardly enjoy eating at all to think of all the fats you're consuming. This is not a post on food neither is it food recommendation. It is about a journey which starts by saying:

I've finally learn how to eat. 

There, I've admit it. Before today, I was like an un-evolve primate unable to differentiate between bananas and bananas. 

How often do one really pay attention to the stuff they shove down their throat? How is it that we always say, "oh Restaurant X really serve good food" or "this food is incredible" and we mean it deep down not just from the back of our skulls but from the pits of our stomach? Not just because others agree with the fact that a particular food is good but YOU actually relish every minute you spend on the gastronomical sensation? 

Well, for my case, this happen today with my experience on the above sushi. The ultimate Norimaki served on a plastic tray with a cup of warm green tea. Plus, it wasn't even brought from a restaurant like Sakae or Itacho. It was from one of those grab and go counters/sushi bars that nobody cares about. 

I know, you might be wondering if I am out of my mind? I mean clearly, Singapore is a food haven. There got to be so many things better than this. But you know what, I want to emphasize once again that this is not a post on food, but my journey with food. 

I don't think many people think twice about eating. We eat to live. Meals are fun to have with good company. At the very most, given the recent trend of "sharing moments", beautiful food should be "instagramed" and displayed for the rest of your peers to watch and envy. I doubt many actually care about what they're eating.

If I were to ask you to recall the last fantastic food you ate, your story will probably be like, " so I was together with Friend A we went to this place blah blah blah recommended by blah blah I ordered the blah blah blah and it was fantastic. Totally caught up on a lot of stuff that we've been missing out especially now that it's finals etc... (hahaha this is almost made up)."

Honestly, the only time you describe the food itself was probably comprising only a teeniest bit of your recount. But who can blame you? After all, it is true that how good something taste depends on your mood at that pre-existing time. Our sensory systems encode external stimuli relatively (WTF HAHAHA I AM APPLYING MY KNOWLEDGE FROM THAT HIDEOUS MODULE ON NEUROECONOMICS) Prior to today, all my best meals were those I had when I hung out with my loved ones. 

Yet this Norimaki is different. I was eating alone. But each time I lifted the pieces of rolled up rice delicately on my chopsticks and dip it in soy sauce, I felt strangely powerful. Watching it glisten- so perfectly chopped up and while chewing it carefully, I thought to myself this is one thing that makes us human. 

I think I can fairly say I stumbled upon what some people call "live to eat". Gluttony is one the seven sins of man after all. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I finally completed my 10 pages assignment on a module that I disliked, perhaps it's just fatigue or Christmas-round-corner or loneliness that drives my imagination to overdrive but as I eat quietly alone at a corner of a multi-level shopping complex-watching strangers passing by- I felt eternal. 

It was nothing compared to the rest of the meals I had. Sometimes, you don't have to do new things to gain new experience. 

Preparing food is an art. Thus eating, is an appreciation of art. I don't think many people realized that but I hope that this post makes you think twice the next time you eat anything. In my opinion, it is a journey that you must take and take alone if anything don't try to force such a meta-activity to occur-this could possibly just backfire- just feel with the flow and the Zen will get you ;). 

I feel proud of my journey with food and eating alone :D I remembered I used to have a post here complaining about how terribly self-conscious I felt to dine as one but look how far I've come!