What are your favorite types of foods?

MIRRKA WALKUMUNU

To be asked the question what are my favourite foods reminds me of the time some decades ago when I worked in an aboriginal Community in remote Western Australia.

Part of the service offered to children was two meals a day on weekdays in the community canteen. Breakfast, dinner and then after school, afternoon tea was given to children not to eat in the dining room but to take home or eat outside.

The word “Mirrka“ in the vernacular of the area is “food”. The word “Walkumunu” translated into English as “good“.

For some reason, this question brought back memories of children and the community dining room. Although the meals were pretty ordinary, the children were always very hungry and some would declare that the food that was given was good.

I wish my favourite food was vegetarian and nutritious – also enjoyable to eat. Unfortunately, when a child, my meals were dished up including a lot of vegetable varieties that I did not like. It was required of me that I ate everything on my plate. This meant 70 to 80% of what was dished up engendered within me a dislike and a determination that these foods would not be part of my diet when I could control what I ate.

Consequently, my favourite foods are pretty limited. I love meat and a few but not many vegetables. Potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers in my favourites in the vegetable line.

I like ice cream, apricots, strawberries, and above all cherries. Not too much more in the fruit line I’m afraid although apples are fine.

One thing I find quite irksome is the fact that if I smell food anywhere up to 20 metres away it puts weight on my frame. Food I like, or food I don’t seems to have the same effect. In terms of gastronomic intake, the people in this world I most envy are those who eat like pigs, and drink like fish, all the while remaining as thin as whippets.