Wetin I Go Chop?
Man v Food (Lagos Edition)
I worked late two weeks ago and the Facility Manager announced that it was time to shut off the building lights so everyone had to leave or move to the ground floor. One of the guys stretched and moaned “wetin I go chop when I reach house?” a question on the minds of most single working people who live alone.
In my experience, deciding what to eat is usually a function of what I have available at home or what I can afford to buy, however, this is rarely the case for others due to a number of factors;
electricity or access to it
money
cooking skills/eating habits
obviously, the factors listed are not a conclusive list of reasons why people cannot decide what to eat but those are the most common factors within my context (Lagos, Nigeria). I recognize my privilege while I write this so please take my words bearing your context in mind.
Growing up, my mum was particular about us eating good food, I barely snacked as a kid so biscuits, sweets and pastries were never really my first choice when I got hungry back then. My dad also has health conditions that limited his diet so again, I’ve always been conscious about what I ate. If I were asked to describe my eating habits, I’d say I eat for enjoyment not sustenance and you can say this makes me a picky eater to an extent but that directly ties back to privilege but that’s not up for discussion yet.
For this article, I interviewed men to test my theory about the factors that affect working singles’ meal decisions and to get an idea of how they eat or plan to eat. The responses were quite interesting.
GC: Do you meal prep or cook?
R: Hiiii, I don’t meal prep and I’m not the best of cooks either so I buy most of my food which sucks because it hampers my feeding. I’m not a great cook, I can only cook a handful of things like yam and eggs (I make the best eggs in Lagos btw), beans, noodles and one time I took a stab at Jollof rice.
Cooking was also a hassle because I wasn’t living alone because I had to cook for everyone plus the house rarely felt like mine it felt like I was squatting so prep only happened when I wanted to cook. It was when I’d visit people and see that they had meat, vegetables and other things stocked in the refrigerator I decided I’d do the same at my place.
GC: How has this changed now that you’re in a relationship (with me)?
Wow “I’m in a relationship, I didn’t know that! I think one of the fortunate things in my relationship is that my girlfriend is a great cook, not like I always rely on her but feeding better has been a significant life problem I’ve had and it has been a resolution for the past 3 years of my life and I never lived up to it. Since I got into this relationship, I’ve been able to learn how to cook from someone who enjoys doing it, this improved my feeding and It’s one of the things that endear me to her because a significant life problem I’ve had got solved just by meeting her.
DP: I do both actually, sometimes I send my younger one out to the market and we make the food at once and stock up the fridge. If I don’t do this, then it’s bread and butter.
E: I don’t meal prep, there’s not enough time to do that but I cook.
L: I don’t do either (bombastic side eye) living with my mum and sister precludes me from meal planning. If nobody cooks, bread to the rescue! Bread is really cheap and you can have it with beans, butter, eggs etc. I’m not even joking
GC: How does a week of feeding look for you?
R: Now? ummm… because she’s very intentional about cooking, wait for example she knows I like swallow, if I’m with her I’d have it. You know, thinking about it now, everything is so seamless because I don’t have to go through the rigmarole of “what am I going to eat” My babe is very intentional about what we’d eat.
GC: But you’re not always together so…?
R: When I’m on my own (I just got my place so I’m not settled yet) it’s the usual struggle of noodles or buying food. I’m a picky eater so if the food is not good, I won’t eat it.
DP: I can’t put a description to this. Sometimes I’m at my guy’s place and we’d eat a big meal in the evening or something.
E: I’ll take this from the perspective of being in the office, a week of feeding is breakfast at 1pm which I’ll order in, it could be a burger or snacks, then I buy snacks on the way home. During the weekend I’ll probably eat rice with the stew I made earlier in the week.
L: Remember I live with the family, it’s usually vibes and insha allah (there’s rarely a plan)If my sister feels like cooking she will if not, I’ll eat bread. We even tried having a meal timetable but it did not work.
GC: Are weekends different from weekdays?
R: The way I work makes weekdays terrible for me, there’s barely any time to cook or order till about 3pm but on weekends, I’m with my guys or my girl and food is usually sorted in either of those places. With the guys, we discuss and decide what to eat and I already explained what it’s like with my babe.
DP: There’s no difference for me because I work from home so the meal prep works except I’m out.
E: I eat more junk during the week because I need to keep my mouth busy while working. I eat better during the weekends because I’m home and there are probably home-cooked meals or I can order in.
L: I’ll say yes to an extent, my mum and sister are usually available to cook on weekends but it’s based on their availability either way. Any difference between the days will depend on my mum and sister’s availability.
GC: How much do you budget for food weekly?
R: Mehn (awkward laugh), I rarely budget and I should probably start doing that in the spirit of financial responsibility. The way my life is, I don’t budget for anything, I just assume all the money I have left after necessities is for feeding. (GC gives a gobsmacked look).
I’m more or less like a rolling stone, you know how people have savings, rent, transport etc.? For me, after putting all that money aside, whatever is left goes to feeding. This method is somewhat counterproductive because when I have more than usual amounts of money left, I may decide to satisfy a craving that will end up costing a lot and buyer’s remorse sets in.
DP: Probably 15k weekly
E: There’s no particular budget but it usually 10k or less weekly
L: Due to our living dynamics, I give my sister about 50k monthly which she adds to for our meals. However, I have my friends over more often these days so I give her double the amount if my friends will be around.
GC: Do you often go over or under the budget?
R: I don’t budget.
DP: Sometimes I go over the budget when I stay with my friends because I’m not at home or under if I’m home alone
E: I go over the budget sometimes if there’s a new junk food I want to try or if I’m eating out.
L: There’s no situation where I will go under budget because I have a fixed amount to give my sister monthly. Sometimes I go over the budget because we need to make a big purchase (e.g. a bag of rice or a microwave) but the amount is pretty stable in any case.
GC: If you don’t have a budget, tell me how you manage.
R: Well I’ve sort of answered your question with the rolling stone thing
DP: I typically go to the market and buy stuff until the money finishes lol.
E: If I don’t have money, biscuit is always there to rescue me plus it’s not expensive to buy junk here so yeah. If I’m in flux (have more money than usual) I eat out more.
L: Ah this is a bit tricky, sometimes money is good and I want us to head out for pizza or whatever. When Sapa hits like when I had to buy a new generator for 480k I ran to my friend’s house and stayed there till I was in a better financial state. Again I’ve said the thing about bread. It’s always there.
This interview was equal parts funny and WTF! for me because why are people relying on bread and biscuits?! what happened to rice and stew? Anyways, my key takeaway from the conversation about food is that we need each other more than we’d like to admit.
Whether it’s someone to remind you to eat or someone to cook for you or even businesses that deliver meals. Your nutrition will get a lot better the more you interact and share with others which equally feeds into the quality of your life.
I missed the newsletter last week because I had to rest and for me, that was a retreat with these guys somewhere on the outskirts of Lagos. Since we’re on the topic of food, let me plug you guys into the best shawarma I’ve had in Lagos. A restaurant called Wrap City in the Food Court App delivers the creamiest and, meatiest shawarma I’ve had in Lagos but they only deliver to Lagos Island for now. Also, GTCO is having a Food Festival this weekend so if you’re in Lagos, that’s something fun to do. Go where you’re loved and stay there this week.
Stay Jiggy
xx