Sarah Costine, a student from Green Creek, North Carolina, studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Similar to all of us, food plays a major role in her life. Sarah has chosen to take the Vegetarian path in life when it comes to her diet. However, facing a problem that many vegetarians cope with, Sarah’s vegetarianism caused her to develop health problems, and as a result she resorts to eating some lean meats, such as chicken in order to maintain her health. Nevertheless, she does not let her diet affect her enjoying family get-togethers on special occasions that require special meals such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Being a vegetarian in college can be difficult because there aren’t that many choices in the campus dining halls. Sarah struggles daily to find different foods so that she wont get bored with eating the same things day in and day out. Every few days, she has to eat chicken in order to make sure that she is getting the protein that her body needs. Although she does not necessarily enjoy this, because it is out of necessity rather than desire, it still deviates from the monotony of her meals on normal days.
When Sarah is at home, it is significantly easier for her to comply with her vegetarian diet. Dinner at her house is usually on the run and everyone cooks their own meals, unless it is a special occasion, in which case they have a family sit down dinner. Sarah’s family life works in her favor because although her siblings may not all be vegetarians, it doesn’t affect her since she makes her own meals the majority of the time. This also allows her to change up what she eats everyday, unlike her dining experience in college .
Despite being vegetarian, Sarah is still able to enjoy holidays like Thanksgiving in which meat is the highlight of the meal. She loves getting together with her extended family and enjoying their company. Her grandparents both live really close to her, so she gets to see them often, but this gives her a chance to see he aunts, uncles, and cousins that live far away. In this case, food, although experienced differently by her and some her omnivorous relatives, still brings everyone together in celebration.
Sarah’s life and her experiences with food show us how even when people have different ideas and practices regarding nutrition, food plays an enormous part in all of our lives. It is universal in that we all experience it differently in a way that we can relate to one another for doing so. It is also relatable for college students who are vegetarians who struggle daily to find variety in a world where the priority is given to the majority of the people, more specifically those who include meats in their diet.
No comments:
Post a Comment