In high school I had a biology teacher who believed life would be better and easier if we could photosynthesise.
He very firmly believed eating took up an unnecessary amount of his time and he'd be better off if he could make energy on the go without having to think about it. I disagree with him, although I can empathise with the sentiment.
Eating is pleasurable and social and gives you an excuse to stop whatever you're doing and just focus on what you want for a moment. But, at the same time, eating can be a total and absolute pain, particularly when you or people around you have specific dietary requirements that need to be taken into consideration.
I'm not big on cooking. All the flatmates I've ever lived with have probably gotten a total of three good meals out of me. I've got a reputation for buying one item in bulk and making some sort of dense, flavourless monstrosity.
Some of my finer moments have been potato soup that was really mashed potato with vegetable stock, and zucchini parmesan with almost a kilo of mozzarella. Once I did make a pretty good French onion soup, but I had to take a break between every onion to cry in the living room and so I never tried it again.
A lot of the time I don't have the energy to cook after I have been studying or working all day, and as I am not really responsible for anything but my own nutritional wellbeing, I don't want to devote too much time to thinking about what I'm going to make, and I'm not too worried if what I'm cooking is awful.
We don't cook together at my flat any more, and while that's not all due to my sub par cooking skills, it's definitely better for everyone if I'm out of the kitchen. What it really comes down to though is that when I'm tired, which I usually am, I can't be bothered thinking about what I want.
A friend recently described this state as having needs but no desires.
When I'm studying I have needs but I rarely have any desires. I need to keep eating to keep my brain working but the longer I spend thinking about cooking and actually cooking the less work I am getting done.
For this reason, I spend a lot of time feeling grumpy about needing to eat and not a lot of time deciding what I want and executing the actions required to get it.
We all know that the hungrier we get the more we just want to eat whatever is in front of us, but if there's nothing in front of you then it is almost impossible to decide because literally anything is appealing. But then at the same time, you usually have a pretty strong idea of what you don't want.
At this point, it is easier to not eat than to make a decision and so by the time you get to food you're too tired and tetchy to bother making anything proper and you end up with something you didn't really want that is also just a bit crap. Eating a good meal is infinitely helpful, especially if you're not doing it alone.
Cooking in a group is enjoyable, and going out for dinner is great. So, even though I spend an inordinate amount of time feeling hungry and also incapable of crafting myself something good, and even though eating can be a major inconvenience when you're really busy, I still maintain that I prefer a world where humans eat instead of sucking up energy from the sun.
Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
