I found a restaurant in Sheffield that served buffet-style meals; you could eat all you wanted for just £20.50. The catch here is that you have only one hour and thirty minutes to spend at your table before leaving, and there is no takeaway. Nevertheless, I excitedly told my friend I was down for it.
I didn’t eat anything that day as I prepared to fill my stomach with intercontinental dishes. So instead, I was drinking a half glass of water intermittently. I arrived in Sheffield around noon that day, and my friend offered me food and drinks, but I turned it down.
“We are going to eat a lot tonight, my friend, no need to eat now. I need my stomach to be empty.”
I had pre-booked a table for the three of us, and immediately we settled in the restaurant, I took a glass of cold yoghurt and samosa to “unwrap” my stomach and get down to business. But, ladies and men, that was my greatest undoing. Immediately after I finished the yoghurt, my hunger disappeared. After that, I didn’t feel like eating anything again.
I watched my friends’ first, second and third plates of different delicacies while I couldn’t finish half plate of rice in my presence. They had Italian pasta dishes like spaghetti bolognese, lasagna, and pizza. French cuisine like coq au vin and escargot. Spanish tapas and paella, Greek gyros and moussaka, German schnitzel and bratwurst, Mexican tacos and enchiladas, Chinese stir-fry and fried rice, Indian butter chicken and biryani, and Thai green curry and pad Thai.
While the Son of Nebu had half a plate of rice and one chicken, I tried forcing myself to eat. Finally, I managed to eat five spoons.
We finished, paid and returned to my friend’s place. I decided to spend the night and return to my town the next day since it was late. Around 1:00 am, hunger returned. If I could beat myself, that was the night I could’ve done it. I sat on the bed, and when it was too much, I tapped the owner of the house, and we went downstairs to bring soup out of the fridge and made semo for me.
I was left in the kitchen, and after eating the semo, I cooked small jollof rice.
It was a bitter experience, but I learnt my lesson to make sure I eat before going to “eat”.
