Magic Metabolisms

The Balinese should all be fat. But they are not.

I have no idea why the people in Bali are so skinny. Somehow, they are able to eat massive amounts of rice and fried foods and still maintain bodies of short supermodels. Every meal’s staple is white rice. At the orphanage, we usually have white rice and fried noodles and fried tempei for breakfast, and white rice, boiled vegetables, and a fried protein for lunch and dinner. Every day, I watch girls as thin as a small tree branch shovel plate after plate of rice into their bodies, and I wonder 1) where does all of that food go 2) how are they so thin and 3) why can’t I eat that much and look like that? And those three hefty meals are supplemented daily by fruit, doughnuts, meatballs, and other deep-fried treats.

Besides eating a lot of rice and food in general, the Balinese also use a lot of spices. Every single vegetable dish is boiled with chilies, and the little red and green bits hide behind cabbage and other vegetables, waiting. While I have become more accustomed to spicy food, I still have to hunt each little chili piece down before eating, but while I do that the girls next to me supplement their meal with a whole chili! I watch in horror and disbelief while the girls, holding the chili in their left hand, take a bit of the rice and spicy vegetable, bite off a piece of chili, and repeat.

My favorite part of the traditional Balinese meal is how the meal is eaten. While most of the time at the orphanage, we use spoons to eat, it is not unusual for the girls to just eat with their right hand, always the right. It requires a bit of skill to pinch a mouthful of rice and other food together, but I swear, everything tastes better from your hands than from any utensil. I think the trick to eating like a true Balinese though is to avoid "the chicken wing," in which the unpracticed diner sticks his or her elbow out to the side instead of tucking the arm close to the body. The speed at which a traditional Balinese diner can stuff food into their mouth is truly amazing, and definitely divides the amateurs from the experts.

While spicy food is not my favorite food in the world (although in a few months, it might be), I have found some favorite foods. My favorite fruit is the mangostene which is a white, fleshy fruit encased in a thick purple skin. The fruit is light, sweet, and so delicious that I can easily eat at least a kilo and probably more. I think heaven might taste like a mangostene. I also really like deep fried bananas, called pisang goreng, and unfortunately, I can buy a whole bag of them from a vendor 3 minutes from the orphanage for about 75 cents.

I love the Balinese food. It's a little spicy and most of it isn't particularly healthy, but a month into my stay, I do not miss any foods besides sharp cheddar cheese (I can buy quality chocolate at the supermarket). I just hope that one of these Balinese girls will reveal the secret of their practically magical metabolism, so that way I can eat as many fried bananas and as much white rice as I want.