#Staff Column
2022.06.21
Eating well to live well(One Meal Diary Ritual)
Columnist | Introducing the columns written by member of Amorepacific Group
A time for myself, a ritual trend column Part 2. Eating well to live well
Columnist | Park Sehee
eSpoir MC Team
eSpoir MC Team
“What did you have for lunch?”
A colleague I run into asks me. Lunch? Sometimes I need time to remember what I had for lunch. Back-to-back meetings, things that need to get done ASAP, reports I need to write… I’m lucky if my lunch was ‘memorable.’ Remembering what I had last dinner or even last weekend? Impossible. I enjoy eating good food, and I even cook sometimes. So why aren’t any of my meals memorable? That was why I decided to sign up for One Meal Diary, a ritual program where members write about one meal a day.
The ritual mission was simple: read one chapter of a food essay and upload a post of a meal I had once a day. On the first day, I wasn’t sure which meal to write about. There was nothing special about what I ate that day. In the end, I decided to post a photo of the apple juice and the boiled egg I had for breakfast. I didn’t know where to start but after some brainstorming and scribbling, I arrived at this short piece.
The ritual mission was simple: read one chapter of a food essay and upload a post of a meal I had once a day. On the first day, I wasn’t sure which meal to write about. There was nothing special about what I ate that day. In the end, I decided to post a photo of the apple juice and the boiled egg I had for breakfast. I didn’t know where to start but after some brainstorming and scribbling, I arrived at this short piece.
My morning routine at the office is this. I first rub my hands with some hand sanitizer. I take off my coat and open up my laptop. Then, I go to the restroom to wash my hands with soap. Finally, I sit at my desk. I pull a zip bag out of my tote and take out the pouch of apple juice and put it on the desk. The boiled egg stays in the zip bag as I roll it on the desk. Crunch-. In the quite office, the sound of the egg shell breaking is rather rhythmical.
My fingers peel the egg with small and delicate motions. I take a bite into the soft, white flesh of the egg. As I chew, its savory flavor fills my mouth. The shell peeled off perfectly today, I think to myself as I open up the desk drawer to take out a pair of scissors. I cut the corner of the apple juice pouch with the scissors and drink a sip of the sweet juice. Just another breakfast-in-office.
It may be a very dull and personal part of my daily life but writing about it somehow made it sound more refreshing. Is that too short for a post? Then, I remembered what made this breakfast special. So, I decided to share that, frankly.
It’s a little embarrassing, but this breakfast menu is actually what my mom prepares for the family every morning. It’s about time we took care of our own breakfast, but she still insists on boiling the eggs and pairing them with a pouch of juice. It was apple juice first. Then came cabbage juice, pomegranate juice … and now, we are back to apple juice again.
The five-minute breakfast in the office is all the time I need to appreciate my mom’s love. That simple yet warm gesture of her affection.
That last sentence made me realize how extraordinary this breakfast is. It was a daily ritual, but I guess I never really thought about what made my mom get up early in the morning to prepare this zip-bag breakfast.
My fingers peel the egg with small and delicate motions. I take a bite into the soft, white flesh of the egg. As I chew, its savory flavor fills my mouth. The shell peeled off perfectly today, I think to myself as I open up the desk drawer to take out a pair of scissors. I cut the corner of the apple juice pouch with the scissors and drink a sip of the sweet juice. Just another breakfast-in-office.
It may be a very dull and personal part of my daily life but writing about it somehow made it sound more refreshing. Is that too short for a post? Then, I remembered what made this breakfast special. So, I decided to share that, frankly.
It’s a little embarrassing, but this breakfast menu is actually what my mom prepares for the family every morning. It’s about time we took care of our own breakfast, but she still insists on boiling the eggs and pairing them with a pouch of juice. It was apple juice first. Then came cabbage juice, pomegranate juice … and now, we are back to apple juice again.
The five-minute breakfast in the office is all the time I need to appreciate my mom’s love. That simple yet warm gesture of her affection.
That last sentence made me realize how extraordinary this breakfast is. It was a daily ritual, but I guess I never really thought about what made my mom get up early in the morning to prepare this zip-bag breakfast.
A few days later, my family ordered a pot of Gamjatang (pork back-bone stew) for dinner. For that meal, I really didn’t know what to write about. So, I asked my family as we were eating. What comes to your mind when you eat Gamjatang? The answer wasn’t something I expected.
“The play area at the Gamjatang restaurant!”
That’s right. The Gamjatang places we used to go to as kids always had this play area. There was a pool section filled with colorful plastic balls, next to a few arcade game machines. I remember playing on these machines with my cousins as the adults dug into the spicy, boiling pot of Gamjatang. Time to go! My parents would call out my name when they were done eating. Before we left, I always remembered to pick up some free ice cream in a soggy cone.
This sudden memory made me look up Gamjatang restaurants. I guess I wasn’t the only one, judging from the list of related searches: ‘Gamjatang play area,’ ‘Gamjatang game machines,’ ‘Gamjatang ice cream.’ There was a piece of Gamjatang memory that everyone kept. It was just a pot of Gamjatang for dinner, but its memory led to one story after another, and the dinner turned out to be delightful.
This sudden memory made me look up Gamjatang restaurants. I guess I wasn’t the only one, judging from the list of related searches: ‘Gamjatang play area,’ ‘Gamjatang game machines,’ ‘Gamjatang ice cream.’ There was a piece of Gamjatang memory that everyone kept. It was just a pot of Gamjatang for dinner, but its memory led to one story after another, and the dinner turned out to be delightful.
Every day in the One Meal Diary board, posts were uploaded by the members participating in the ritual program. Reading through the one meal diaries of more than twenty people was more entertaining than I thought. Oh, she must really love bread! Wow, homemade soy milk yogurt? Rice with mackerel and water parsley sounds so good! We were only online friends after all but sharing what we ate on a daily basis made it feel like we’ve been good friends for a while. It was as if I now understood the saying “You know you are close friends if you know the number of spoons at their place.” There was something powerful about sharing stories about our meals.
As part of the ritual, I had to read the food essay collection The Taste of Now published in the Baemin Newsletter. This book is filled with ‘stories of everyday meals by writers who take food seriously.’ Here is an excerpt I found particularly relatable:
“I’ve been diligently practicing recipes in a cookbook. I want to invite two people again when I get a chance. And I want to be invited, too. I want to continue to live with real food, in real time, in real space. I want to live in those tasty moments, in those conversations, in those, well, lives.”
- The Taste of Now, from ‘Invitation Practice’ by Yojo
Eating is what we do every day, and eating what with whom is sometimes all it takes to make our day special. Eating well to live well. What else does an extraordinary life need? The acts of eating and living are meaningful just as they are.
“I’ve been diligently practicing recipes in a cookbook. I want to invite two people again when I get a chance. And I want to be invited, too. I want to continue to live with real food, in real time, in real space. I want to live in those tasty moments, in those conversations, in those, well, lives.”
- The Taste of Now, from ‘Invitation Practice’ by Yojo
Eating is what we do every day, and eating what with whom is sometimes all it takes to make our day special. Eating well to live well. What else does an extraordinary life need? The acts of eating and living are meaningful just as they are.
“What did you have for lunch?”
If anyone asks you, take some time to think. How meaningful was the food I had today? How meaningful was the person I shared that time with?
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