Creature of Habit

The other day I was thinking about people and their food eating habits.

Some are weird;
I remember when my brother went through a particularly disgusting but intruiging phase of getting multiple slices of soft white bread, squishing them into his dirty teenage boy hands and rolling it all together to form a suprisingly hard, bite-sized ball.

Then, when he was pleasantly satisfied with the weight, consistency and shape of the ball, he would devour it. Often, after too much rolling, the bread ball would end up a slightly off grey colour.
Why would he ever find this even remotely appealing? I can only imagine, but oh god it sends shivers down my spine to think about.
Another strange habit is of my dear mother, who's favourite treat used to be a mars bar, eaten perfectly frozen after being placed in the freezer for at least a day. Why? Again, I have no idea.

And some are not so weird;
My good friend Zannie and I discovered one day, after I easily chomped though 1kg of apples after she tried to convince me I couldn't do it, that in an average year for me I consume about 600 apples. Yes, I eat 2 apples a day, most days of the year. Mainly because I love them, but also because they are the easiest thing to keep in my bag to bring out when my stomach awkwardly grumbles in public.

Another example;
My friend Bridget, who, every single day throughout highschool would bring a small can of flavoured tuna for lunch. Rain, hail, or shine, nothing would stop her from her can-a -day habit. One time, she forgot to bring a fork to eat with so she washed off a plastic ruler she found on the ground and proceeded to shovel the tuna into her mouth with it. If that's not dedication then I don't know what is.

So it's easy to see that with any food related eating habit it's easy to fall into a trap of deja vu. That's why I was so stoked to discover this delicious new salad, made for me by my lovely friend Georgia a few weeks ago. Branching out from the average salad of iceberg lettuce, tomato and capsicums it is full of lightly sauteed cabbage, grated raw beetroot, sweet slices of apple, crunchy walnuts and salty feta. It's that tasty, easy to make, filling and nutritious that I haven't been able to stop eating it ever since.

And so begins the vicious cycle of repetition and red stained fingertips...



Red Cabbage, Apple and Grated Beetroot Salad

1/2 a red cabbage, sliced thinly
1 red apple, sliced thinly
2 raw beetroots, peeled and grated
100g feta cheese
100g walnut kernels
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Little squeeze of lemon juice


Place cabbage in a sauce pan with the olive oil, salt and pepper and lemon juice. Place on a medium heat to cook for a few minutes to lightly whilt. Turn the heat off, add the grated beetroot and the apples. Mix to combine then stir through the walnuts and feta. Enjoy.