Rugrat ramblings

Rugrat Ramblings From milk to Michelin. Sort of. The youngest member of our team tells us why good food is what we all need right now

There are few things in this world that I love more than my mummy and daddy. After all, they’re the best people I know. Well, they’re pretty much the only people that I know at this point, but from what I know of them I think they’re the definition of wonderful. Having said that, there is something else in this world that is slowly working its way into my heart. Let me try and explain.

We see each other every day. After every encounter, I feel sprightly, spoiled, satisfied. Sometimes I’m impatient and angry and things can get messy but I always leave the experience feeling better than when I started. I never regret our meetings and I always look forward to the next.

I’m talking about one thing here. Food. Glorious food - minus the hot sausage and mustard because my palate is not quite there just yet.

Growing up in Hong Kong, I am beginning to learn that I am lucky enough to have some of the best food in the world right at my little iddy-biddy baby fingertips. Armed with a deadly pincer grasp after months of practice, I can snap up anything that falls on my food tray and insert it into my mouth within zero point two five seconds. What can I say, it’s a gift. But that was not where this love affair started.

It all began with milk - my first source of nutrition in this world. Just minutes after arriving I had my first taste and let’s just say, I was hooked. Day and night for months on end I would indulge in this magical liquid and it would make me feel overwhelming comfort. And then one day, mum and dad kicked it up a notch with purées. Apple would make me go wild, and prune would just... make me go. But as I sat in my high chair I would watch mum and dad eat other things. Solid things. Colourful things. Things that I was ready to grab and put in my mouth too. I would try to tell them by screaming loudly, just once, like baby birds do to their mums. “KAW”. That had to get their attention. One day - it did. Broccoli. Pumpkin. Carrot. Avocado toast. Weetabix. Every day I would be introduced to new flavours and my parents would clap and cheer and then I would clap and cheer. It’s been such a glorious and tasty journey that I am now a little bit addicted to the Hong Kong Dining website where I am plotting exactly where I want to go and eat when I am old enough. So why tell this story? Why all the fuss over food? Because - I see people eating and I don’t see the joy on their faces like I have. Does the joy of eating just disappear when you grow up? Or has everyone just forgotten to slow down and enjoy the little things? Perhaps we are in a weird situation right now, so busy dealing with Covid-19 that we’ve forgotten that there is still joy to be had. Maybe now is the perfect time to slow down, pull back and enjoy the little things in life that cannot be taken away from us. Now with that in mind, please excuse me, I have some dinosaur pasta waiting for me that won’t eat itself. At least I hope it won’t - that’s my job, and I love it.

Thoughts and perceptions from the mind of an expat baby