CW: Food, recovery?
One of my favorite things about studying abroad has been learning to love food. I guess I never acknowledged this fully until I got here, but I had a really problematic relationship with food growing up. Getting my picky ass to finish a meal in a no-food-waste-tolerated sort of home was a daily source of conflict between me and my mom. Even in high school, long past the acceptable point to be labeled picky eater, so many of my meals were spit piece-by-piece into napkins or dropped in the toilet when I got up to be excused. I never understood other people's excitement for meals and envied their enjoyment of large family dinners. When I hated eating, so many meals were full of secrecy and shame and stress.
But here, for the first time, I've been willingly trying lots of new *healthy* things and cooking regularly for myself. I thought this would be overwhelming, but food is everywhere and so easy to love here. And for once, instead of making me feel tired or left out, eating is making me feel happy and healthy and excited for more :)
