My students love to try to share their food with me.
Unfortunately, many of their food choices make me sick to even think about
eating. Uncooked ramen noodles, french fries with a quarter inch layer of salt, weird fried crackers that taste like fish, gross jelly candy that has to be sucked from its plastic container. Many classes start with me saying repeatedly in Thai, “No thanks, I’m
full, I already ate” just to avoid having to put unclassifiable foods in my
mouth.
And in front of the school and in the cafeteria, stands
cater to the students’ every whim. My least favorite is the vats of boiling oil
filled with a mixture of mystery meats, similar to hot dogs and baloney (as if they
weren’t unhealthy enough when microwaved or boiled). Skewered and tossed into a
plastic bag with sauce – sweet chili sauce, ketchup, or (gag) mayonnaise, your
choice – these fried meats are then devoured right off the stick.
Unfortunately, it’s not just the students who partake in all
the fried foods. Win and another co-worker, Stephen, have taken to eating
massive amounts of fried chicken and baloney during snack breaks (the school
has two, aside from lunch). It has gotten to the point that these lunch ladies not only brag about the foreign teachers buying their fried meats, but also about the frequency with which the two of them show up. On the bright side, Win and Stephen don’t attempt to
force-share their food with me.