LIVING TO EAT My principal in high school always confused us on the morning assembly ground by asking this question: do you

eat to live or you live to eat? Though a simple statement, if you answer it in a hurry, you may end up saying that you live to eat. Back then, I had always believed that it was because we answered in a hurry that most of us always acknowledged that we live to eat. But over time, I have come to realise that it was probably a voice from our subconscious that was saying who we really were. That we love food as Nigerians is not a hidden fact. That is why those of us that on the slim side will always be accused of not eating. Believing that it is the amount of food that you eat that will make you fat. Some people believe in eating something, whether balanced or not, let something go in to the stomach. Or why do you think all these our friends in public offices collect bribes? It is to service their stomachs. Many Nigerians, including myself live to eat. If you think otherwise, go to any nearby restaurant especially the bukas and mama put joints. The variety of dishes ordered by just an individual will make you wonder if he was ordering for three people. But just watch him from a distance and you will remember the lines from one of the songs of the highlife musician, Bright Chimezie. You will think the man is about to commit suicide. Over the years, I have made it a hobby to walk pass popular bukas and mama put joints in cities around the country, to study the activities around there, especially that of gourmands and gluttons and it was always fun each time I went out. At some joint in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, I was shocked at the site of elderly men fighting over seats. More disgusting was the fact that some of them were washing the plates they wish to be served food in. Though I would want to agree with the lines of the Nigerian R n B group, Style Plus in their song, Iya Basira, believing that there was some force that was magnetising them to the joint, I blamed the men for leaving the comfort of their homes to be reduced to dish washers for the tasty stew, a wink, a smile or even a trip to some hideout for a quickie. I have seen situations where a man will buy a dish of eba and soup with the quantity of the meat competing with the sauce in the plate for breathing space. I have also seen where one person will order for six boiled eggs and devour them at once as if he was going to die if he was not given the eggs to eat. This will be accompanied with a loud belch and a look of importance on the face of the man, suggesting that he has eaten the most expensive meal in the world.

Our table manners as described above have played a major role in the level of greed in the country. Just as we order for virtually everything when we go out to eat, so do we want to grab everything that comes our way, not minding what will happen to our brothers and sisters. A single individual will out of greed pile money overseas for his children and even their grand children. A government official will blot out the names of children of peasants who have qualified for a scholarship and substitute them with the names of his olodo kids who could not scale through. Study the political terrain in the country and it will be obvious that the same set of people have been manipulating the masses since the country gained independence. These are just scratches on the surface, the depth of the problem is beyond our imagination, but that will be a story for another day. The Greek philosopher, Socrates once said, He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have. Maybe if we as individuals will come to accept that we eat to live, we will take just one egg instead of six or twelve. We will also understand that as we are

privileged to have the food on our tables, there are many who have not eaten for days because of poverty. If we fail to ponder over this fact and the hungry man becomes angry, we might not have the space to board the next available flight.