How Kraft Dinner has Ruined My Appreciation of Food.

Dear World,

The title says it all. I am suddenly feeling a slight twinge of west-coast blues. And honestly I’m a little ashamed.

Not because I am missing my brother (sorry Jake), not because I haven’t spoken to my mom in 3 weeks, but because of a goddamn box of Kraft Dinner. I mean, how sad is that?

For those of you who do not know me, Hi. I’m Talen. I am a UVic student on exchange for one year in Leeds, England. I have an intense love of marine biology, raspberry pie, and those little pine-scented car air fresheners you can buy at the gas station. But I digress.

The macaroni package was just given to me by a Canadian friend of mine as a pre-emptive birthday surprise. Little did she know, it has sparked a sudden onset of PCFDD (Post-Canadian Food Deficiency Disorder), and has ruined all the beautiful progress I have made these past months in attempting to gain a “worldly” palette.

Allow me to explain:

Over these past months, I have travelled far and wide with a primary objective of trying all sorts of cultured food and drink. Recently that has been the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Scotland. I like literally every kind of food (except for avocados, my sworn arch nemesis), so I am open to trying whatever these countries can throw at me.

For example, this haggis I tried in Edinburgh was exceptional! I could feel my taste bud knowledge growing.

Orrrr this seafood platter in Barcelona. Let it be noted that the photo is slightly off focus, as that was all the time I could use to take the photo before I had to eat.

My flatmate Nicholas (that extraordinarily cultured guy you saw in my last post) has also exposed me to the art of the wine connoisseur. I am now proud to say I can guess the identity of a red wine at least 21.8% of the time, and can now hold the glass in a fancy fashion like so:

But now, this… this Canadian ghost of a pasta box has got me craving all the Canadian foods I once ate all-too-often. All progress has been for naught.

However, I have a plan. I have booked a ticket to Rome during my spring break, and will attempt to alleviate this predicament via exorbitant amounts of authentic Italian pasta. Take that, KD. Venice and Berlin are also on the lineup of travelling visits, so I’ll be sure to brief you on whatever food incidents occur, good or bad.

And so, I now leave you with a picture of perhaps the best pizza I have ever tasted; a tandoori bbq chicken delicacy from right here in Leeds.

I hope you’re all hungry now, because I’m considering tearing into this Kraft Dinner box and eating it raw.

Hahaha

Seriously.
T.R.