Panchito‘s Diary

That was my order at the local fresh Falafel shop. 

It was very good, delightful.

The thin Flatbread is a duvet for the freshly fried fluffy Falafel, with a refreshing Tomato, Mint and Parsley Salad, between some creamy fried eggplant. With a side of earty Hummus and some acidic chilli pickles.

I got some free black Tea when my order arrived.

I hear Portugese, Ukranian, Turkish, English and German at the tables beside me. They are all happy. 

Good food makes for a good life. Sharing this food makes it only better.

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I am not religious. But ive been thinking about the traditions that I miss from the times my family had me under a reign of catholicism. I don’t miss much but the thanksgiving before the dinning. Those prayers that will allow you to eat.

When my grandma was living with my uncs and aunties, before every supper one of us was responsible for the prayer. We will take a card that had some biblical moral and then proceeded to say.

Thanks God for the soil, thanks for the plants, for the grain and fruits, for the hands that planted and harvested the food, thank for letting people change the food from hands and made them available for us. Thanks for the hands that cooked this meal. And we wish the people who cannot enjoy this meal to get some soon.

I think those words were a mixture of indigenous communism and christian tradition. But for me they were mainly empathetic.

Every time I got reminded that food is not a given yet. And if so, we have to be still thankful and give something back. Because we are supposed to live in a symbiosis.

We all gotta eat everyday (hopefully) we all gonna die just once.

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I cooked for my friend Saffira for 3 days. So she can enjoy “comida de verdade”. Her health has been having some ups and downs, and I might not be a Medical Doctor nor a Healer or Shaman, but the love and care that I put on her food made her felt better, that and a nap every 2 hours. We grew up on different sides of the continent, but the heritage that we carry still let us enjoy what good food is, and its importance. Because sadly is not always a given.

When Tomatoes stop tasting like water, we will be fine.