Real Food

so. last night, i was up in the english building .... later than i should have been.

my students had turned in three assignments that were fairly labor-intensive as far as grading was concerned, and i wanted to get them back by today. i got back two of the three batches, and graded presentations as well. not bad, really, but i was here later than i needed to be.

so i was walking toward the main stairwell, and encountered a classmate/friend who i know to be stressed past the point of tears. she and i sat in the stairwell and talked, mostly her confessing the levels of stress she's under and me assuring her that she will make it because i had made it when i was where she is. i told all sorts of stories about the kinds of bizarro tactics ems and ams and km and i got up to when trying to finish projects, and assured her that not only did we all get our MAs without a hitch, but also that our brains had not in fact melted out our ears.

i hope you don't mind, ems, but i told her about the time you needed to sleep on my futon because if you went to your apt, you weren't coming out again. and of course, that time i leapt down the last few stairs and did a heel click straight out of cheesy movies about irish dancing. a few other tales of grad school. she seemed to feel better.

but this has nothing to do with real food, which is the title up there at the top of this entry.

on first approaching her, i was eating raw green beans, because they're good and fast and in season. she had no idea what they were at first, but when she figured out they were green beans, she was shocked to see that a person could in fact eat them raw. she'd only had them cooked, and it had never occurred to her that it was possible. she inquired, actually, as to whether it was safe to consume raw green beans.

let's ignore for the moment my shock and dismay at that. i shared a green bean, invited her to try it on for size, as it were, and she timidly put the end in her mouth and chewed. i have now converted a person to the 'eating raw green beans is good' cult. she wondered where on earth i'd found them. sigh. after describing the sorts of foods one could find in the produce section (and incidentally sharing several more green beans), we talked about why i was always eating weird food.

side note: during our wed class, there is a break. most people get out loose change and buy chips or candy. i dig around in my bag for whatever i've brought. to date, my contributions to the class (i bring lots, because after week three people were too curious to let me eat alone) have consisted of: bell peppers in many colors, okra, sliced zucchini, kiwi/strawberry skewers (toothpicks rule), daikon radish in slices and matchsticks, homemade trail mix (pineapple, craisins, golden raisins, whole almonds, semi-whole walnuts, and pine nuts), apples and cheese, dill pickles, and dried bananas with natural peanut butter dip. the one time i brought a roll, people were for some reason convinced i'd baked it myself.

anyway, while we sat there and shared green beans, she wondered why i was the one person in the entire department she's never seen eat a french fry. did i have something against them? was i making a point? plainly, no. produce is tastier and more convenient to keep in baggies in the fridge than fries are to purchase and carry back with me. she said that the green beans were kind of like healthy french fries. they were shaped appropriately and had a nice crunch, but tasted better and didn't get her fingers greasy.

one of her office friends happened by at the moment (i'd forgotten how populated the building is late at night), and she immediately pressed a green bean into the friend's hand, saying that she had to try it, it was great.

herein lies the most hillarious part for me. girl B looked at the thing, and started to crack it open like you'd do a soy bean, but was then told it was a green bean, and that you ate the whole thing. the look on her face was priceless. she is in our class, but has never partaken of the weird food i bring. she looked left and right before sliding the green bean into her pocket and saying she'd save it for later. i about rolled on the floor laughing.

before she left, i was accused of not eating real food like fries and burgers, of not liking candy (i was sick that day, and so did not want to contaminate the bag), etc. then she said that "when you've fried them green things up in hot oil and added a dash or three of salt, come talk to me. until then, i'll stick with real food.'

for the life of me, i cannot tell whether she was kidding.

love and peace (and "weird" "real" food)