Lunch is never just lunch. At primary school it’s a bartering system and a caste system all rolled in one. My sister and I learned very quickly just how much our mother’s small concession to junk food could buy in the playground barter system; 1 chocolate covered “Peppermint Wrap” muesli bar buys exactly 1/5th of a packet of Ruffles.

We’d be able to hand over our peppermint essence, chocolate, muesli and glucose rolled together every day for 5 days for 1 pack of mini Ruffles on a Friday. To this day I still associate Ruffles with being hungry before lunch.

The caste system was firmly drawn- those who got a lunch …

You are what you eat.

When I was little, I liked things to be white. “I ont oodles” was the catch cry at the table. “Ont oodles”- in soup, in butter , in yogurt- in anything white ish. So long as it was plain, slippery and predominately carbohydrates it was ok. Taking me to restaurants was a nightmare. Not many places will serve straight noodles. Though I see McDonalds now will- in animal shapes to boot. 

” No red sauce? No cheese? Nothing on the pasta?” Italian Maitre Ds would bleat on rare occasions when we ventured out while pouring lambrusco for the parents. “No. She really just likes it to be …