Eating Eggplant

My local farmer's market is very small but it never disappoints. As I was baking the eggplant I got from there recently, it occurred to me that the level of satisfaction that the whole experience affords, cannot be measured just by cost. The said eggplant was time and a half more expensive that what I could get the grocery store. But I wanted to savor the finished product for longer because it had taken effort to procure and maybe just for that reason tasted so much better.  

Enjoying the humble eggplant bake reminded me of this interview with the former editor of Vogue India about how to be less consumerist in fashion and clothing. She talks about how clothing should inspire some sense of nostalgia and we would be less likely to discard pieces that have value because they are tied to story close to your heart. Such was my eggplant too -  it was different, chosen with deliberation, paid for in cash and there was human touch in the transaction between buyer and seller. Spending that extra time and money to buy food that was produced with more thoughtfulness may end up being a good way to stay on a diet that is more about savoring than consumption.