An Ode to Cheese (and red meat)

I have not eaten a piece of cheese since I left the country on June 5, 2006. Actually, I don’t think I had cheese the day I left either, so let’s say the last time I ate cheese was brunch on Sunday, June 4, 2006. That’s 33 days ago today.

Now it could be argued by some that I eat too much cheese. I think my mother is still disappointed for not being vindicated by a high cholesterol reading before I left for undergrad. Perhaps I have passed such a love for cheese onto my current roommate, Rachel, who probably never ate so much cheese before this year.

I remember telling my counterparts when I met them in the capital before going to my Peace Corps community that my favorite food was cheese. Little did I know that they would tell the whole community and I would be forced to eat cheese at every house that first weekend I was there. It was a cheese that I learned to love, but it was an acquired taste. (I think the turning point was when they fried it…yum!)

I am craving cheese- in case you hadn’t figured that out. I don’t think I had prepared to go cold turkey. It’s not a Ghanaian delicacy, certainly not for lack of cows or goats to make cheese. People just don’t really eat it. I’m told by Hamdiyah that it does exist and this is my quest for this weekend, because quite frankly I don’t think I can go another day without cheese.

Besides cheese, I seem to be craving a big juicy burger as well. I think this is more a reflection of my anemic state than my love for hamburgers. The only thing that could possibly make me a vegetarian is if I was forced to face the butchering of these animals on a daily basis. It’s so easy for us to completely block out that stage of how meat shows up in the grocery store. Unfortunately, that reminder is usually staring me in the face every week when I have to enter the market. Thus, I don’t cook meat and am therefore severely iron deficient. Multivitamins to the rescue, right?

As a result, I am anxiously looking forward to August 16th when I arrive home, head to the Thirsty Scholar for a juicy cheeseburger with a cold Magic Hat #9, and enjoy some good conversation.