This past summer, I lived and worked on a small island between the peninsulas of Michigan (Mackinac Island for those from around here). The island’s perimeter is just over 8 miles and the majority of people spend their time in the “downtown” which is about as big as Wooster’s. Because of this, pretty much everyone who is there for a season learns who else lives or works there. The island’s main life force is tourism so most restaurants and shops downtown are targeted toward someone who will only be on the island anywhere from a few hours to a few days, making it a unique place to live.
Food is especially interesting. There is a single small grocery store at the edge of downtown (it’s probably a little smaller than the Kitt dining room) but besides that, island employees either eat at the overpriced tourist-oriented restaurants or travel to the mainland to stock up on groceries. Luckily, my work provided dinners and food we could use for lunches so we didn’t have to go through that hassle. Unlucky for me, my dietary restrictions meant I could rarely eat said dinners.
I worked in a horse barn, so we were moving all day long and worked up an appetite, but it was hard sometimes to make sure I had enough food to sustain myself. Unless I wanted to spend a ton of money going out to eat, I was left to eat the same sandwich every day from the little supplies the island grocery store allowed me to. Living on an island really changed my perspective on eating and food, especially when it came time to come back to school. While Lowry isn’t good food (and we all can agree on that), before living on an island where everything is hard to get to, I took for granted how nice it is to have a choice in what I ate.