Day 141: post LBL brunch + AGNSW Open Weekend

Went to Live Below the Line brunch - not used to being allowed to have such an abundance of delicious foods! It's quite weird to try and shift back to prior ways about thinking of eating - now I consider if it is really worth it, can it wait, am I actually hungry, do I need this sugar or should I instead get some protein? After living below the poverty line, it hard to grasp just how immensely lucky I really am. 

Then I went to the Art Gallery of NSW's Open Weekend in celebration of the new contemporary galleries, including the John Kaldor Family Gallery, which currently holds the family's collection and will next year be combined with that of the gallery. I loved the buzz of the gallery! Activities everywhere you turned, people up for conversation, the sound of The Rescue Ships filtering through levels; what a great vibe. I watched the film 'I Shot Andy Warhol' (it was the first time I'd been in the gallery's fantastic cinema - and it will definitely not be my last!), joined in on the Zoetrope Workshop (run by Ricky Subritzky), joined the Architect's tour of the new contemporary galleries (led by with Andrew Andersons and Anne Flanagan) and attended Tracey Moffat's talk. 

The new contemporary galleries are vast, as Anne mentioned, many people were surprised that such a space existed under the galleries and was so easily converted for public viewing. The Kaldor Family Gallery is exactly that, a gallery. Its own comprehensive unit with a collection rather astounding. This new gallery, and the renovations/extensions of pre-existing sections of the same level, adds a whole new 'level' of excitement to the AGNSW - it's not just an exhibition, it is a completely new space - a new era to be filled. Walking through it for the first time - seeing not only the works but the gallery itself - was like opening an early Christmas present. Where my eyes once quickly scanned a wall of Picasso before heading down the escalator, there is now a deep gallery filled with Koons, Chrsito, and one of my favourite of Bill Viola's. I look very forward to spending some quality time with Lower Level 2. 

Open Weekend 2011 :: AGNSW

*This also makes me really excited for the MCA's new galleries 

Live Below the Line Diary #2: Cravings

The past few days have gone by relatively quickly indeed, but not without major waves of cravings and longings for certain foods - actually, any kind of food with an inkling of flavour. At first, it was not so much the hunger (my stomach begins growling promptly at 11:30 each morning), but the temptation of constantly being surrounded by so-close-yet-so-far delicious foods, which makes Living Below the Line a challenge. Strolling down food shopped lined streets almost everyday is particularly the most difficult part - knowing that no matter how hungry I am, how much I want it, how much money I have, how cheap it is - no. I often find myself reminiscing of foods I have had in the past, reliving the moments. And it is the knowledge that I am lucky enough to have these memories, and know that after Friday there will be opportunity to continue them, which makes me feel so grateful.

With barely enough protein or sugar, I find myself continuously exhausted. It is hard to imagine how so many living in poverty must feel when exhausted from work but without a spacious bed and pillows to fall into, who struggle to have enough food let alone a tap which flows with clean water, and who don't have the knowledge of when this poverty will stop (the way I know it will this Friday) / if it will at all.

My breakfast of two pieces of toast and 1/5 of a can of fruit salad is my favourite meal of the day, as the fruit salad, especially in contrast to my following meals of the day, is so sweet and tangy! My lunch of 100grams of pasta, 100grams of yellow split peas and 1/5 of a can of diced tomatoes, is best warm and tastes like nothing but the highest quality of blandness. My dinner of rice and mixed vegetables is quite the same as lunch, however on the first night my rice was extremely gluggy.

I'm wishing that I had bought less rice, more pasta, a proper bottle of pasta sauce and a pack of salt.

Thank you to everyone for your support!!!

p.s. If you have a spare moment, why not play free rice to support the World Food Programme

Live Below the Line Diary #1: groceries

Being a person who doesn't so much eat to live, but lives to eat, the thought of the 1.4 billion people who live in poverty across the globe is both easy and extremely difficult to empathise with. It is perhaps symptomatic of the culture of consumerism which many of us live in, and indeed indulge in, that food holds so many connotations other than what it essentially is - fuel to keep our bodies functioning - paradoxes such as having access to fresh fruits and vegetables and yet choosing to eat the highly processed and packaged; ultimate indulgence rather than a necessity; as a threat to the thighs rather than as a means of sustaining them. Shopping for Live Below the Line was an experience that made me feel immensely grateful for a privilege that I have always had - choice, that I not only have access to good food, but I can pick what I want; I can have standards, I can have favourites, I can do things like the BITE ME Project, I can go to a restaurant and look at the menu and know what the different meals on the list are. It is this ability to choose which I am most able to empathise with. This week my choices have shifted from what flavour of cupcake shall I get, to should I eat this piece of bread now and get hungry later? From thinking about flavour and satisfaction to whether or not I can afford to cover the 5 food groups. 

As Sarah convinced me whilst shopping in Aldi that $2.19 for a dozen eggs was just too expensive and that eggs - one of my all time favourite foods ever - were a luxury (not just a given in everyone's kitchen) a man with a fairly full trolley pulled up next to us. Not super full, in fact it was probably rather empty by most standards. But at the time, the sight of  oranges, olive oil and cookies... words can not begin to describe. And here I was coming to the realisation that I was going to have to downsize my packet of pasta. 

Hence, this week as I Live Below the Line (the global poverty line is $2 a day), I hope not only to bring awareness to those who live in impoverished situations (and who make $2 cover a lot more than just food) but also to the privileges in our daily lives that many of us take for granted and the fact of how incredibly lucky we truly are. 

My groceries for this week: 

2kg of rice (Coles) $2.99

1 loaf of bread (Coles) $1.09

500g pasta (Woolworths) $0.65

500g Yellow Split Beans (McKenzies, from Coles)  $1.21

400g diced tomatoes (Aldi) $0.69

1kg frozen mixed vegetables (Woolworths) $1.59

825g fruit salad (Coles) $1.49

Total: $9.71

(full post)