The Tuna Factor

Brace yourself, I’m about to post a recipe.

Since I’m a barest-minimum kind of cook, barest-minimum food prep is my kitchen strategy always.  So this will be an easy recipe.  And later, when I’m home (writing this from the cottage) and can reference the cookbook I got if from, I will.  {EDIT:  Cooking Wise: Recipes for Healthier Living, FLTO80 2013 copyright Metagenics Inc.]

But for now.

Tuna Waldorf Salad

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped cucumber

1 medium apple chopped

½ cup olive oil mayonnaise

2 tbps chia seed

1 tin flaked tuna (in water) – yes, a whole can and I’ll get to that in a bit

Mix together.  Eat.

That’s it.   You can put in more or less mayo as desired, as well as the chia seed.  It’s great for hot summer days or any time you need the bulk of some vegetables and a fruit, plus the protein.  That’s the tuna.

When I first prepared this salad I wondered about the need for a whole tin of tuna.  Seemed like a lot.  But the diet I’m on needs enough protein at various points in the day, and the whole tin does the trick for providing me with one of the five portions of protein recommended.  And it’s filling, and I like it.  Hope you do too.

But I’m not posting this recipe and talking about tuna so we can do a foodie exchange, as fun as those things can be.    It’s just that I made this salad for lunch today and as I was opening the tin of tuna, I thought of Suradet.

I always think of Suradet as I open a tin of tuna now.  Ever since that night that the lights went out and the three of us, Suradet, Yupa and myself, ate by candlelight at their table one Thanksgiving Sunday.

It is fall 2015 and I am doing my three month stay from end of September to beginning of December.  By Thanksgiving, being honest with myself, I am missing crisp mornings, soft sweaters, and butternut squash soup.  Particularly on this Thanksgiving weekend, I am missing pumpkin pie.   Yupa has made me a marvellous and very special dish of stuffed squid.  It is delicious.  But it’s not turkey and potatoes and pumpkin pie.   And I notice this.  Even in the midst of the spectacular thing it is to be here for three whole months, I do notice this.

We’re not sure why the power is out.  There’s been no storm, or wind, or any weather-related, or other obvious reason.   Apparently this happens often enough that large pillar candles are at the ready, and this is what is brought to the table so we can eat together.

There’s something about the subdued lighting, or the easy quiet way of our conversation, I guess, but somehow we start talking about our childhoods.  The stark contrast in how we experienced life as children is actually quiet incredible.  Me, a baby boomer growing up in suburban Toronto with a roof over my head and plenty of food and clothing.  Bicycles, summer cottage, summer camps, Christmas mornings, pumpkin pie.

Both of them, but Suradet particularly, growing up an exceedingly poor mountain boy during a rice shortage.  That’s when he tells me.  One tin of tuna would be shared with his family of six.  It would be mixed with rice and perhaps some corn, and that would be supper.  And that would be the only protein he would get all day.  Did I mention this was for a family of six?

On occasion in the past, during times of hurry or distraction while making lunch, I have left my tin of tuna to drain in the sink and absent-mindedly eaten my Tuna Waldorf Salad without any tuna.  Being busy enough to eat at my desk while I work isn’t just a bad habit, it can push me into that not-quite-all-there-zone where I wouldn’t even notice, I admit.   But regardless, what happens, is, way before supper, I’m starving.  I’m missing the protein.  That’s one serving of protein in my day.

So how does a little boy go all day with one sixth of a tin of tuna as his ration?

I ask Suradet, and yes, he remembers being very hungry most of the time.

How much does a tin of tuna cost anyways?

My reading these days has me deep into thinking about thinking, particularly thinking about how I think and perceive life as a Westerner.  And it’s moments like the tuna when I realize, I really have no context whatsoever for this.  None. 

The children at Hot Springs have ample protein and a variety of good foods in their daily diet.  They can go back for thirds if they like.  I know this because I’ve seen Praweet do so on more than one occasion., and he’s not the only one with a healthy appetite.  All of them are full of energy with shiny hair and clear skin and bright eyes.  Now they are.

But the hunger Suradet experienced as a child is the hunger children experience all the time in Thailand and other places of the world.  And every one of the children we now know as part of our family has this memory.  Of being hungry. 

I weep for this sometimes.

So God bless the children! 

 And help us all be mindful, and to love mercy, and do justice, and walk humbly.  Please.

Please keep me grateful.  Help me be open handed.  Bring us what we need to love on Your kids.  

And thank you Father for the chance to make a tin of tuna difference for these kids.