In Principio: Starting small, and broke-ish
The genesis of this blog came, really, from a chat I had with ChatGPT about my budgeting needs. We figured out that once I'm working part time in NYC (since I'm also in school), in order to pay rent and pay off debt and pay recurring expenses and pay this and pay that... after all that, what's left for food each week is something like $50. That's not very much anywhere, let alone in New York, and my melodramatic self immediately jumped to sad and sepia-toned scenes of eating room-temperature black beans out of a can with a spoon.
Look, if that were true, fine. I am grateful to God that I love where my life is going, and a little sacrifice, even eating tepid canned beans every day, is worth it if it gets me to where I need to go. But the same part of me that wants to attack my schoolwork with aplomb and not take no for an answer is unsatisfied with sinking into resignation in the face of such a ghastly gastronomical future, no matter how short-term. Why not do everything excellently?
I imagine cooking must be like interior design. Throwing money at it helps, BUT, there is still a big difference between a thoughtfully designed peasant hovel and a thoughtlessly designed one. The latter can be just miserable and make everyone in it miserable, and while the former won't isolate its inhabitants from every reality of their poverty, it will certainly take the edge off.
So this week, from Monday, March 17 to Sunday, March 23, I will spend just $40 (I need a buffer) on all my food and drink purchases, and see how dignified I can make it, and what I can learn about the mysteries of FOOD along the way. I live in the most culinarily diverse place in the world; surely there is something I can take away from that even if I can't afford every Tibetan momo and Columbian buñuelo that crosses my path.
Ad astra per aspera!