Volume 1 - Top-Tier Character Ayanokōji-kun [DISCONTINUED] [READ THE REVISION]

Chapter 2 - Masterpiece Meets Masterpiece

Food.

Truly, a challenging subject. There is little consensus about how and what we should produce and consume.

It is not even clear what food is or whether people have similar experiences of it.

One one hand, food is recognized as a basic need, if not a basic right.

On the other hand, it is hard to generalize about it given the wide range of practices and cuisines, and the even wider range of tastes.

Food, in its most basic idea, is the image of a mirror.

You may have often heard the saying "we are what we eat"—but there is more in regards to that saying than meets the eye.

Eating mirrors the making of a self, that is, the array of decisions and circumstances that bring us to eat the way we do.

In them, we can see reflected a detailed and comprehensive image of ourselves.

Food is a relation. Something is food only with respect to some organism, in a set of circumstances. These, first of all, are bound to vary from moment to moment.

For example, not many people would consider eating a dessert, such as pancakes or ice cream for dinner—it'd be unpalatable.

Also, circumstances are bound to involve principles that are, at least in appearance, contradictory. You may like to eat something at a certain place, but it would be inappropriate to eat it somewhere else.

As such, any given "food relation" is first and foremost the mirror of an eater: depending on the circumstances, it represents the eater's

needs,

habits

convictions,

deliberations,

and compromises.

It is able to truly show the character of a being.

So what does it mean when a person eats "boring" food?

Gray, tasteless blobs of nutrients.

Not changing. Always the same look. Taste. Amount of nutrients.

What if that person wants to experience something else?

Actual food?

Vibrant, tasteful and exciting?

How would that person react?

What would they feel upon seeing something completely different?

Would it make another part of their identity shine?

Or keep their being shrouded in shadows and mystery?

Whether or not food is able to affect an individual that way doesn't matter.

Because in the end, the most important thing is—