Mark Louie Alvarez September 17, 2015NASC 6 Section C Dr. Marites G. Yee

TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT?

Most of us are worried about what we are going to have for lunch just after finishing our morning meals. However, several dwellers in the country think a lot worse than this – they are wondering if they will have something to eat again today or in the coming days. People who are not concerned about the food they consume everyday tend to take advantage of their ability to gather and purchase this essential substance, in this case, by having leftovers during meals. Nevertheless, these dwellers lacking of purchasing power benefit from the bits and pieces of food that they scavenge from garbage or the so called ‘pagpag’. Now, the difficult matter to decide on the part of the unconcerned consumer is to eat or not to eat the food that he/she cannot afford to take anymore.

This matter has occupied my mind after viewing the award – winning short film “Chicken Ala Carte” by Ferdinand Dimadura. I was skeptical about the title of the film, thinking that it was about how to prepare a delicious and affordable chicken ala carte. However, I was absolutely surprised after realizing a deeper meaning behind the scrumptious meal title. The story simply started from two individuals who ordered fried chicken from a fast food chain for their dinner. They failed to devour the whole meal that they purchased and left without trying to finish. Afterwards, the crew in charge of disposal have cleaned up their table and threw away the leftovers along with the others of their own. The camera cut to a man, driving his mini pedicab, who was eventually heading towards the establishment where the fast food chain was. Someone from the chain handed over a bag of leftovers to the man with the pedicab, and the latter left with somewhat a mark of satisfaction. He returned home to find his wife and children waiting for his arrival, hoping that he would have something special for them. The man’s children, which I supposed was more than five in number, was very eager and cheerful to find out that their dad has brought home a bountiful chicken ala carte.

I was so moved by the film regardless of its simplicity and poor cinematography. The gist of the story itself has carried the film’s undeniable success. Seeing the faces of the children filled with joy has made me think whether they are aware that what satisfies them daily is a pack of collected consumed junk left by different persons. I felt pity to people like the family in the film and at the same time disgust towards those people who failed to completely finish the meal that they have bought or prepared. We should not purchase what we cannot afford to use at our own best and at the same time consider the case of these ‘pagpag’ - dependent citizens. Instead of disposing leftovers, we should hand them over properly to those who are food – deprived or store them again to consume on another time.

To eat or not to eat? Think twice before picking an action because what we left in that plate can arrive in another man’s dining table.