Pizza Slices and Everything Nices (or not)
$2.75 (cash) on a slice of pizza from the campus eatery, because I failed to pack lunch, and knew that if I did not eat something, I would find myself a raging mess of emotion and headache in a matter of hours.
$11.81 (cash) at Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable on dinner supplies, plus a splurge on rhubarb (so pricey!) and mangoes.
$12.07 (debit) at Key Food to get the rest of my dinner supplies and strawberries to go with that rhubarb.
Earlier in the week: $25.90 on groceries at Key Food, just the staples to eat for the week. Indulged in chicken, because it was on sale for $1.69/lb for boneless skinless breasts, even though I know they are factory farmed etc. etc. I know. I care. I just don’t care enough to spend $4-$7/lb for my meat when I have an unemployed spouse and am living in NYC on a student stipend without loans. This of course raises the question of why I still eat meat, as it is out of my financial grasp to do so in what I consider an ecologically friendly and humane manner. Does “because I like it?” count? Or is it really because I have not yet made the mental transition to vegitarian, and in still considering myself an omnivore, refuse to accept a life entirely meat-free? I sit here, hearing the voices of Alice Waters, Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser bouncing around in my head, and even though I agree, I ignore. It’s no wonder it seems impossible to change how America eats, when even those who know and understand the issues can’t bring themselves to make the necesary changes. Does “I eat much less meat than ever before, partly because of financial reasons, but partly out of an understanding of the consequences” count, even if it’s not a complete transition? Or is that still a “sin” in the new moral language of food?