Food For Thought

Yesterday morning, I was picked up by a gentleman in his late 50's. I greeted him with salam (Muslim greeting) because I had seen his name on the app when I ordered the taxi. I think uncle (the gentleman) must have thought, "I can shout at this young asian man", when I asked him to take a left as he was almost ignoring the sat nav and was going to go straight. He said with a telling off tone "brother, if you need to go that side of the train station, you should have put temple street". I was baffled with that tone but that made me laugh too (because I thought uncle needs to relax). I explained there was also a new street on this side and that was what I'd booked the job for using that post code. It then almost turned into an argument and the man started saying, "brother I've been driving taxi for 15 years, I know". I politely responded please follow the sat nav and my point was proven after a minute when it said, "turn right onto new street". The man didn't say a word but I thanked him and got out. I think he needs to have some cucumber to cool him down.

In yesterday's train back to Birmingham, I was sitting opposite a young man dressed in a grey jumper over his white shirt. He was busy shuffling thorough his playlist on the phone, wearing bulky Bose headphones. Then he closed his eyes after putting his phone on the table in front like he was enjoying the music. But all of a sudden I heard a popping noise 'pop' and a metal lid from a bottle landed on his head. He almost jumped but remained really calm and composed. The lady from behind him instantly apologised and grabbed that lid. I'm not sure what she had in that bottle which made that lid go flying like that. But I'm more impressed with the attitude of that young man who remained that calm and didn't even say a word. He must eat a lot of Brazil nuts, dark chocolate, salmon, turmeric or yogurt because apparently these foods keep you calm.

If the phrase 'You Are What You Eat' meant that literally, then what does it mean for people that eat a lot of coconut in their diet? Are they white from inside and brown from outside? Does our Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sajid) eat a lot of coconuts? Why the headlines - " 'He's a COCONUT!': Are some UK Pakistanis racist against prominent British-Pakistani Politicians?". (you can google it ).Racism is linked to jealousy.  If your really are what you eat, what does that make this pair sitting on my left eating plantain crisps out the packet at 6.30 in the morning in the train?

If you search lack of what causes jealousy, you'll find, "Love and envy linked by same hormone, oxytocin. A new study has found that the hormone oxytocin, also known as the "love hormone," affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy and gloating". So does that mean these people who think politicians of their own kind are coconuts are jealous because they don't eat 'Foods That Boost Your Love Hormone' like figs, spinach and avocados? (you can Google this too). I'm sure that the man sitting opposite me in the train this morning doesn't eat that sort of food because he doesn't look very happy sitting in the train with these folks munching on plantain Crisps making chomping noises.

Does the type of food you eat affect the choices you make? Does the food we consume, makes us want to keep on consuming it? Statistically, in 2016 referendum for brexit the areas with higher Asian populations (from South Asia) voted remain and we (including me being South Asian) love our curries. Is it because they thought (subconsciously) it would be difficult to import those good quality onions from Spain if Brexit happens? We know onions are vital for most curries, so can this mean the love of curries or the onions was the driving force behind voting remain in the brexit referendum? Does this mean the remainers (who voted remain) would be mostly the people that have a lot of curry in their diet? If this is correct, then I feel the people I can see around me in the train today are all brexiteers (who voted leave) because I can say without any prejudice that they all may like curry but they certainly don't have it as much as us. I say this because I've seen the man in my front  eating a sandwich, the one next to him had some biscuits just now. I believe that must've been their breakfast. This was the same man who wasn't happy first but later after he had smashed his sandwich he was laughing while he was listening to something with his ear phones on.  He kept laughing uncontrollably which made my think if he had some herb in the sandwich which had elevated his mood. 

I personally don't like curries that much, I like English foods like pizza and Chinese. If we scored the number of times someone ate curry in a week out of 21 (as there's 7 days in a week and generally we have 3 meals in a day) . Could there be anyone who gets a score of 21 every week consistently for 52 weeks of the year? If someone did that their annual score will be 1092. But could there be anyone who gets a higher score than that in a year? I think there are people in this world who have been smashing a consistent score of above 1092 for years and they don't even think of that as an achievement. Iooking around me in the train this morning I think there is no one who would score anything higher than 52 in a year.

Almonds are good for your eyes and so are carrots because rabbits eat carrots and they never wear glasses. So it's proven that carrots are good for your eyes.

I hope you liked my humour in today's blog. Have a great day and enjoy the food you like.

Adeel