It’s not too often you’ll find me pounding down a McDonald’s Big Mac, five chicken nuggets, a cheeseburger and two small fries in one sitting.
But it happened and I've got the proof. When I decided to embark on creating a participatory documentary about students’ eating habits for The Spectrum’s annual Food Issue, I was faced with a challenge I couldn’t resist.
Could I – as the paper’s 115-pound editor in chief – eat half a McDonald’s Dinner Box in one sitting? I didn’t exactly want to, but there was something alluring about proving I could. (I had a lot of doubters.)
You can see the result for yourself thanks to former Spectrum Managing Editor Owen O’Brien and his insistence that I understand how he eats. And yes, after you watch the video, that’s really how he eats.
I didn’t want to stop there. I was on a mission to answer one question: “Are you what you eat?” Essentially, how does what you put into your body reflect who you are as a person. What influences the decisions on what you put on your plate?
I didn’t look for my answers just in Owen, but in Natasha Wierzbicki, too. She’s an animal-loving, Instagram-famous vegan who was all too pleased to cook me a fully vegan meal. Both Owen and Natasha have wrapped up their degrees at UB, but not before inviting me to understand a small slice of their lives.
email: sara.dinatale@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
