My Complicated Relationship with Food
I spent the first two and a half years of my life without much food at all. According to my adoptive parents, the Moscow, Russia-based orphanage I spent critical years of my physiological and psychological development in gave me porridge breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’ve seen the videos from when my parents first visited- if you didn’t eat your porridge, it was taken from you and given to a child who had finished their first bowl already. Fortunately, this was not my fate for long.
On January 19th, 1999, Randall and Rene Robinson adopted two girls and I, and gave us hope for a healthier and nourishing life. They like to remind us whenever we rarely go out to get fast food that our first fast food was the day after adoption, at a fried chicken place in Moscow. There’s a video of that experience, too. In the early years with my new family, I ate a lot to make up for the malnutrition. My parents’ earliest photos of me depict me as a little chubby due to making up for lost food.
We lived in Overland Park, Kansas for the first seven years, which is a city as stereotypically suburban as they come. My parents have always been adamant about eating healthy, but we still made the occasional trip to McDonald’s or Wendy’s. As for diversity, Kansas had their chain Tex-Mex and Italian restaurants, but it was certainly no cultural hub, especially not in Scott City, to which we moved when my dad got a better job opportunity. Scott City was a small town, which was comfortable living, but when the two most popular restaurants are a lone Mexican restaurant and a Dairy Queen, one could probably say I was culturally deprived.
In 2008, my parents decided they want to move back to their home state, Texas, where their family and a better education for their children awaited. Pearland is where I spent my junior high and high school years, complete with a Whataburger, IHOP, Chili’s and Chick-Fil-A, the four locations my friends (and apparently everybody else) liked to eat at. The city’s food scene was definitely a step up from what I had experienced in Kansas, though. People travel from all over Houston and Texas to dine at Killen’s Steakhouse and King’s Biergarten, which has been awarded Best German Restaurant in America for three consecutive years in a row by GermanDeli.com.
On January 19th, 1999, Randall and Rene Robinson adopted two girls and I, and gave us hope for a healthier and nourishing life. They like to remind us whenever we rarely go out to get fast food that our first fast food was the day after adoption, at a fried chicken place in Moscow. There’s a video of that experience, too. In the early years with my new family, I ate a lot to make up for the malnutrition. My parents’ earliest photos of me depict me as a little chubby due to making up for lost food.
We lived in Overland Park, Kansas for the first seven years, which is a city as stereotypically suburban as they come. My parents have always been adamant about eating healthy, but we still made the occasional trip to McDonald’s or Wendy’s. As for diversity, Kansas had their chain Tex-Mex and Italian restaurants, but it was certainly no cultural hub, especially not in Scott City, to which we moved when my dad got a better job opportunity. Scott City was a small town, which was comfortable living, but when the two most popular restaurants are a lone Mexican restaurant and a Dairy Queen, one could probably say I was culturally deprived.
In 2008, my parents decided they want to move back to their home state, Texas, where their family and a better education for their children awaited. Pearland is where I spent my junior high and high school years, complete with a Whataburger, IHOP, Chili’s and Chick-Fil-A, the four locations my friends (and apparently everybody else) liked to eat at. The city’s food scene was definitely a step up from what I had experienced in Kansas, though. People travel from all over Houston and Texas to dine at Killen’s Steakhouse and King’s Biergarten, which has been awarded Best German Restaurant in America for three consecutive years in a row by GermanDeli.com.
I graduated from Pearland High School in 2014, sad to leave but ready to move onto bigger and brighter things. I chose to attend the University of Houston’s main campus in Houston to study public relations and Spanish. I had no idea what to expect from living on campus, all by myself for the first time. I had so much autonomy. So I’d let my friends well-versed in the Houston food scene to take me places. My relationship with food only got stronger after I realized how rich Houston was with multicultural restaurants, coffee shops, teahouses, ice creameries, brunch places, and more, especially focused in the Montrose, Heights and Rice Village neighborhoods. My favorite thing to do is discover new places to eat, and after 3 years, I’m still finding hidden gems deep in the heart of Houston.
By now, I’m pretty much open-minded about any kind of food. My perfect meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus with a bread roll and something chocolate for dessert. That’s one thing about me- I’m a healthy eater and I’ve never been big on soda or sweet tea, but I’ve always been a chocoholic. I’m always game for a chocolate cake, brownie, fudge, Hershey bar, etc., in moderation, of course.
By now, I’m pretty much open-minded about any kind of food. My perfect meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus with a bread roll and something chocolate for dessert. That’s one thing about me- I’m a healthy eater and I’ve never been big on soda or sweet tea, but I’ve always been a chocoholic. I’m always game for a chocolate cake, brownie, fudge, Hershey bar, etc., in moderation, of course.
The most recent development in my relationship with food happened quite recently. The Saturday morning after the first week of school in the spring 2017 semester, I was admitted to the emergency room of Clear Lake Regional Hospital, and about an hour later I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This changes everything. I instantly go from someone who never really thought about nutrition and diet to a carb-counting, insulin-injecting health nut. For me, food is now and will forever be a balancing act, a chemical equation, because now there will always be potentially dangerous consequences from what I consume. At least until scientific advancements can help me out. But I’m fine now; I’m just going to miss the chocolate.