I believe my habit of watching food videos developed out of my desperate attempt to include leisure time in my very hectic schedule. Food videos are short enough for me to finish watching them, but also uninteresting enough for me to stop watching as required. The only problem being, they leave me hungry. Often at inconvenient times.

That being said, as of 2:15 AM right now, I have decided to log how long I can watch only food videos, without ordering/cooking any food outside my regular diet. To make things embarrassing, when I say log, I mean write an article about my pathetic attempt. 

Day 1– I am more than my appetite

While watching these videos, I initially focus on other aspects of the videos. For example, how clean the kitchen in the video is, to distract myself from the actual food. I even went as far as to be inspired to clean my own room in the middle of the night. My mother was very pleased by how clean my room was in the morning. She even made me fried chicken when I got home from work that day as a thank you. Did the chicken help appease my innate need for ordering food? Not really. Did I try imagining the chicken to be the food I was craving? None of your business.

Day 2 – Going through my finances

Miraculously, despite the food videos being similar, I was still not bored. Instead, my appetite increased. So, being the responsible adult that I am, I decided to prove to myself that I was already over-budget this month, and therefore could not order food. Going through my finances, I realised I have fifteen taka to my name. Because now this would mean I must go scour the internet to see if I can buy anything for fifteen taka.

Day 3 – Forgetting about the videos entirely

My quest to find food worth ten taka has almost taken up half my day (I decided to save five taka for later). Having accepted defeat, I had finally given up and bought one packet of chips from the nearest shop. I then suddenly remembered what the main purpose of this quest was, and went straight back to food videos on Youtube.

Day 4 – Attempting to cook

Who needs to order food when you can instead just make it yourself? After going through thousands of Youtube videos, getting all my cooking utensils and ingredients ready, I then proceeded to go request my sister to cook for me, because all I wanted was easy food without any effort having to be put in on my end, only to be rejected. Why must things be so complicated?

Day 5 – Convincing myself I don't need it

Different cuisines fit different palettes. What if the food I'm seeing is not compatible with my palettes? I would be wasting my hard-earned money. It would be much wiser to instead stick to the flavours I am familiar with, and, who am I kidding?

Day 6 – Ordering

I have zero regrets. One hundred percent worth it. But I am never repeating it again because I am once again over budget in terms of spending, and I now owe money to a loan shark. Maybe I should adopt a life of crime. That is the sort of profession that could actually fund this lifestyle.

Bushra Zaman likes books, art, and only being contacted by email. Contact her at bushrazaman31@yahoo.com