We got to spend a lot of quality time with our good friends Gopal and Martha before we moved to Thailand, including a night that they came over for dinner at 4:00pm on a Saturday and we were having such fun that they were still there at 10:00am the next day (I made terrible pancakes in a hung-over haze!). Their two kids Ila and Kuvi are incredible as well and the three kids have a great time together.
Gopal is an activist, organizer, stay at home father, non-violent resistance trainer, and on and on and on, basically one of the coolest people we know who both Jay and I look up to as a good role model for critical thinking, intentional living, and walking the walk. He can also own all the contradictions of daily life and laugh at them, so that is another point for him. Anyway, he gave Jay and I some advice before we left that has served us well so far. “Go slow and go deep.” When you move to a new place it is easy to go crazy making new friends, running all over town to check things out, or grocery shop here, there, and everywhere. But this motto has helped us slow down and try to meet and get to know just a few people well, and to buy our eggs from the same person every time. (Jay did try to cheat on our egg guy, but the impostor eggs tasted like fish….gross!)
So Jay has taken Gopal’s status to 11 by coining the phrase, “What would Gopal do?” which he uses whenever he is uncertain about a decision, and he pulled this one on me when we were having a heated discussion about bread — I want it and he doesn’t. For the last six or seven years of my life, I have had a piece of toast and an egg for breakfast pretty much every day, and any of you who ever invited me to have breakfast at the Thai temple know I refused on the basis of “I need eggs and toast for breakfast!” I don’t see why I have to stop this perfectly delicious start to my day now that I am living in Thailand, even though no one really eats bread here and we have to hitch-hike to the bus and ride for 20 kilometers to buy a loaf (I am compromising and willing to buy in bulk and then freeze!) But Jay, who, like Zorah, was also Thai in his past lives, wants to “eat locally” and not buy bread.
In addition to Gopal, we have many other wise folks in our life so we decided we would put this to a vote.
On matters of breakfast – I much prefer the maxim ‘What would Pooh do?’
To which the answer is undoubtedly eat whatever your stomach desires.
I say go with the flow…rice! Then when you are able to get a slice of bread with your egg it will be an extra special treat! What about baking your own?
Dana
Reverse it and consider: a Thai woman living in Berkeley would seem completely charming to fix herself a taste of home that is such a ritual it is also a part of her being. I say start your day how you need to and go forth with an open heart and happy belly. xo esther
I’ve thought about breakfast a lot, especially when it comes to international living. Many people around the world (rightly) are bemused by American breakfast, which is often sweet, filled with carbohydrates and not too nutritious. OK. And, I love American breakfast. To me, toast with butter and jam goes much better with coffee than, say, a typical Indian breakfast, which is both nutritious and delicious, and a little spicy, but hard for me to stomach early in the day. We are so delicate in the morning, both physically and psychically. So I say you need to have what makes you comfortable when you first are dragged out of sleep and into wakefulness. I could go on..like to describe the one and only time I tried Japanese breakfast…but I’ll make space for others to comment. By the way, I really enjoy the interactive nature of the vote!
what WOULD gopal do?
Where does the bread come from? Who makes it? Who else buys it? What is the traditional Thai bread (since most peoples in the world have some sort of bread)? What is the traditional Thai breakfast?
If eating bread in the morning feeds you in such a way that you can get more from other parts of your life in Thailand, then Eat the Bread.
I think the bigger question is what are you aiming at. If your bigger goals are around smaller foot-print, local living, and living as other’s do, that’s maybe a different story. But even then, I’d ease myself into it. And I bet the footprint still pales in comparison to our normal daily footprint here. My guess would be that even the non-traditional bread is a very short-chain exchange. I bet going 20Km to get bread is still a smaller footprint than walking across the street to the Berkeley Farmers’ Market and buying veggies from Full Belly Farm (which I love, but I’m just saying…) I guess a lot depends on where the wheat comes from, but still, even something small and yummy and radical like Alvarado or Cheeseboard has a pretty sizable footprint. I wouldn’t go against the bread on the grounds of “local”- 20km is nothing. People walk that on a regular basis.
If it is about slow and deep, I think there is as much opportunity to go deep with a regular hitch-hike and bus ride to buy bread as there is with anything else. What matters is how you carry yourselves and how you engage with others; and on that tip, nobody on this side of the world is worried.
eat the bread.
all love
gopal
bread is too yummy for a gal to give up! i love the new blog format!
Eat what you want, when you want. Life is too short to waste a lot of time contemplating all the whys and wherefores. If it feels good, do it. If it do not hurt those around you, do it again..
Love you!!!!
Go slow and go deep … I love that. I’ll try to keep it in mind.
I grew up eating rice and eggs with spam or Portuguese sausage for breakfast. In Hawaii people also like catchup on their eggs and rice (sometimes on the rice).
It’s all in what you’ve grown up with. Personally, I still don’t really like toast for breakfast, cause it’s soooo dry… or at least that’s my perspective.
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