I went for a lovely walk this warm spring evening around Mt Eden. There are some beautiful homes in my neighbourhood, as well as some horrible looking concrete blocks. At one apartment I could see right into this lady’s street level kitchen and saw her facing me, standing at her kitchen counter, stuffing her face with food.

I guess she didn’t think that I could see her or she didn’t care. A glimpse out of context is a funny thing. I wonder if it’s a once off, or if she always eats her meals like that. In our kitchen, there is a possibility a neighbour could look into our kitchen, but hopefully no one has caught me standing over my food on the kitchen bench, stuffing my face.

There’s something very informal and a bit naughty about standing alone in the kitchen gorging yourself. You’re saying: this food isn’t important enough for me to sit down to enjoy it. Or maybe it’s a time issue. There is no time for me to move this show to the table. For me, it’s when I’m polishing off a chicken carcass. You know, after a roast chook has had all the prize parts carved from it, there’s still plenty of pickings to be had. It’s not counted as a meal, so I never sit down. So animal like, so unrefined…I’d be mortified if someone glimpsed me doing that…Out of context.

Now, in context, I like seeing people (and non-people) enjoy their food. The pure pleasure of eating makes me happy – even if it’s not me doing the eating.

I mean, how happy is this little dude? Does this image make you happy?