I still feel like I’m on a ship. Sometimes the seas are smooth, othertimes the waters are choppy and nauseating. Still others, the storms pummel the briny deep into great stomach-churning, heart-jolting valleys and peaks and I’m not sure whether my body or mind will break first before I am swallowed by the foaming depths. Every day, the wide indifferent ocean stretches to the horizon on all sides and I don’t know how long it will take to reach the shore. I do not like boats or water or the thought of nameless shapes shifting in the void below. Small — but significant — comfort to know that you’re out here too, guiding your own craft through the murky waves.
What better way to deal with such a mental state than to talk about food? I mean, what’s more basic than food? We all need it, for survival, for comfort, for distraction, for pleasure.
Of course I’ve been craving carbs, and making rice and noodles and various nacho-like concoctions with abandon. Well, not abandon exactly because I am conscious that finding replacement carbs may not be as easy as I’d like.
The surprising things on my quarantine cravings list? Raw carrots, celery, and bell peppers. Perhaps I can attribute these desires to the gargantuan vats of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing I am using as a veggie dip. But I think it’s more the potential scarcity of fresh veggies – or, if not the veggies themselves, but my ability to access them. I bought two one-pound bags of carrots right as self-isolation was beginning, in the second week of March. And then on my most recent trip to the store, I bought a third. (I recognize that this must sound absurd to those whose families include more than three humans.) I think I am halfway through the second bag; I used a good half of the first bag to make mirepoix, which I froze for future soup-making.
It is just past breakfast time, now, and I am already thinking about a tidy plate of crunchy carrots and my last stalk of celery. Stranger than this, I find myself craving these veggies but then… not eating them. A self-rationing, I guess. Are these the last carrots I will be able to get? I clicked IMMEDIATELY and FORCEFULLY away from the one article I saw that said the food supply chain was not as sturdy as we all think it is, so I don’t know if it was a breathless panic piece or something more reasonable. But I am always worrying that something will be the last. My daughter is eating a rotation of PB&J sandwiches and Lunchables each day, and when I noticed we only have two of the latter left, I dutifully put it on the grocery list. But… when will I be able to get groceries? And, when I can, will there be any Lunchables?
Best not to think about the worst case scenario, and just move forward as planned. Add things to the list, assuming I can get them – if not immediately, then at some point.
Lettuce is also, for similar reasons, on my cravings list. Oh how I long to cut a quarter of a nice, crunchy, nutritionally vapid globe of iceberg lettuce and, yes, drench it in ranch, and eat it without a care! But I do care. And I am saving our iceberg lettuce for tacos.
What are you craving the most, during this strange period of isolation?
This is some ride we are on. I echo a lot of your feelings here. I’m self rationing milk and eggs, and decided not to buy strawberries today because I feel like we are tired of them and may let them go uneaten. But will we be able to get them when we want them again?
So, I continue to eat my onion dip. Normally, we buy it for occasional parties, but now it is something I want on hand. I purchased it initially and in each of my 2 grocery pickup orders since ( scheduled to get the second today, fingers crossed!)
I generally only eat dessert or any kind of sweets once a week but I find I’ve been craving chocolate!
Very good analogy with the boat/lost at sea bit. With all the veggie eating, are you sure you are not part rabbit? I am not a big veggie eater- other then my daily salad and veggies with dinner. They are not a go to snack for me. I am REALLY watching what I eat because of this new app that helps me track everything. My fav indulgance is this protein granola type mix with oats, almond butter, cocunut, dried cherries, maple syrup, sunflower seeds, sea salt, and dark choc chips. Yum!
Buttered, salted bagel with buttery salted scrambled eggs.
Mine is any food I don’t cook myself- the main one being an enchilada plate from the neighborhood Mexican place… sigh. But I can’t justify the risk for a #7 enchilada plate, you know?
Craving Hershey bar cake! Stress makes me want all the sweets. But I’m trying not to bake the cake, because then I will eat the cake, and also might not be able to make bread the next time we need bread but can’t get any because I will have used up all the flour.
Oddly enough, this is so much like our regular routine that it hasn’t knocked me off balance much. The only difference is no going to the gym every day, and no popping out to the store for groceries and things for our home improvement projects. So I’m not really craving anything — I’m still cooking pretty much the way I always did.
BUT. No flour in any of the stores in our small Michigan town. None to be found online. (I did just put in an order at King Arthur, which they say should arrive in about a month.) I love to bake and my husband is a sweets fiend, so usually I’m making some kind of treat at least once a week. (I belong to the Food52 baking club on FB, where we bake from a specific cookbook each month and post the results — very fun!) Also, we could not get butter and eggs in our last grocery pickup order. So I’m very aware of the possibility of needing to find substitutions for things like that in the future, and that has me on edge.
I’ve noticed one weird thing — it’s been about 3 weeks of not going to the gym (my only exercise has been walks maybe once a week if it’s 50 or warmer, which has been rare, and some online exercise classes via ZOOM and FB live) and I’ve been losing weight. I think I was eating more before because of the intensity of my gym workouts. You’d think that would mean my metabolism was higher but apparently not. So I’m turning flabby, but weighing less. Ha!
So far, I’m not really craving anything different than the norm; however, I am definitely doing my best to NOT WASTE, and not wasting food is constantly on my mind. Are there leftovers in the fridge? Then no one should eat a sandwich. Unless the bread or meat is about to expire, then EAT SANDWICHES. Today we had 6 small apples that I could just tell were not going to be eaten by themselves, so I peeled and cut them and sauteed them in butter/cinnamon/sugar, to make a side dish for sometime later this week. I made croutons with the heels of bread. I will not throw anything away unless it’s moldy/dire. And I planted the end of a head of romaine because the internet said I could grow some more from that. A small bit more, but still. Compelled to try (am not a green thumb).
Damn, I *wish* my cravings were so healthy! Ha. I find myself less inclined to want to cook for myself, even though I know I should. But the energy just isn’t always there for me. I try to keep easy meals on hand for the nights when cooking feels impossible.
I’m mostly craving eating at a restaurant. I want to get dressed in real clothes, do my hair and makeup, and meet some friends at a restaurant where I can order a fancy drink and just chit-chat with them face-to-face. I really miss restaurants!