Noon approaches.
I typically have two choices as an intern in dire need of lunch: order in, or eat what I brought to work(or shuffle up to a food truck, a godsend in New York and Washington DC).
Ordering food online is a convenient affair for those on a tight schedule, as sites like Seamless and Grubhub sends brown bag lunches right to my doorstep. I never venture too far from what I usually get: Thai noodles, something something over rice, or a bento box. $10 plus tip and taxes, quick and easy, veggies and carbs to keep the busy day going. At lunch break, I skim through Facebook and Renren (Chinese Facebook) feeds on my phone as I eat, eyes always somehow fixed on a screen. Sometimes I smile when I see friends on Renren posting pictures of what they’ve cooked or sat down to in a restaurant. Through social media, pictures of food have become the new moon Chinese students around the world gaze at.
Preparing food is another big deal altogether. It requires time from the previous night to chop and cook the veggies and meat, and the whole lot needs to be shoveled out of the pan and into a plastic lunch box. I usually buy groceries from either a corner deli or if I have enough time on the weekend – I head to Chinatown.
Chinese groceries like Bok Choy and big mushrooms actually resemble their Beijing counterparts!
Going to work with a full box of food smelling like pepper and soy sauce makes me conscious of two things: I’m far from my family who usually cook for me, but I can always throw something together that smells like home cooking!
Summer is the season of interns.
Some Chinese interns I work with in Washington D.C. or New York – have been creative with their lunch routines by adding a little color. They’re smart about stowing away a jar of classic Lao Ganma hot sauce in the office kitchen, blending a little spicy, dark red, Mainland Chinese punch into the take out box of rice.
When the food looks good, the Chinese intern might take a picture with it, and post it to Facebook/Renren/Wechat friends circle, often captioned with little natters about the working day and how the good food from the local restaurant helped prop up the busy day. But when they’re in a hurry, many opt for the grab and go options, normally sandwiches from wherever is close. “Subway” is usually one of the top choices for those who are in Midtown Manhattan (for some reason I have yet to understand).
Just about every Chinese student I’ve met in New York has a foodie gene – no matter how latent or well hidden. Preparing food, ordering food, talking about it or just Instagramming it seems to be the most shared of habits among us.
“Food is what reaches the stomach and hits the heart “ – as the Chinese saying goes.
Perhaps it is because we are so far away from home that we are a little more particular about what we eat. Food connects the Chinese student population in the United States, in more ways than just satisfying hunger.