My food philosophy stems from loving home cooked meals from my paternal grandparents since I grew up in their house until I moved 2 blocks down from them at the age of 5. I think my paternal grandparents raised me with more vegetables and adequate amounts of meat or protein with rice since eating all meat does not entirely appeal to me. I have always eaten home cooked meals and even when we did eat out, they were all Asian restaurants with my favourite comfort food… rice. As long as I had rice somewhere on the menu, I was fine wherever I went to eat because it was not foreign to me. Food is the closest thing I can feel to my Chinese heritage since I can appreciate the diversity that Chinese cuisine has to offer given its geographical location with various climates. 

        Once, when I was 9, I had a road trip to Portland where we stayed for a few days and during that stay I ate more fries in those 3 days than I had ever eaten in months. We didn’t waltz into a fast-food chain but all the diners we visited had chicken strips, grilled cheese sandwiches, milkshakes and a bucketload of fries. I was overwhelmed by the quantity of food and frankly after the first meal I had on the first day, I was already feeling sick. I was not accustomed to the amount of oil, salt and grease on the food that everyone was happily eating. I was not emotionally homesick but physically homesick since I had to eat something despite knowing I was going to throw it up later. My throat become easily sore after eating excessive amounts of fried salty products and on top of that I was unaware of my lactose intolerance at this point. The only drinks that were available were all fizzy, which I have a difficult time drinking, and water was served with more ice cubes than water. In all honesty it was torture. I think I spent the next few days back in Vancouver drinking water and sleeping afterwards. (P.S. did you know how the words hot water makes servers confused depending on where you visit?)

        I never gave much thought about dietary concerns because I thought people just dealt with it by not letting it show. It became more apparent to me as a teenager that my eating habits are slightly different where I have unbalanced meals. Sometimes I have no energy to eat so I eat 1 meal per day but some days I feel like eating an entire rotisserie chicken and dessert. Honestly, food has been difficult for me if I do not make it at home to control the amount of oil.