Relying on hunger may not be a great way of putting it, but hunger can be a driving force in unexpected ways, in both literal and figurative ways.
In my case, I am literally hungry most of the time – as far as I know, it’s fortunately not an eating disorder, but my food consumption is definitely higher than the average person’s, which earned me a (good?) reputation among my friends and colleagues, and those who know me understand how important food is in my life.
Some of you will hopefully understand my unconditional love for food, but part of my hard work really is driven by thinking about my next meals and future treats.
A life driven by hunger, if you will…
You are what you eat
Interestingly enough, French lawyer by trade but gastronome at heart (a good example of a life driven by hunger, if you ask me) Brillat-Savarin had written it all in one of the first books on the art of good food, “The Physiology of Taste; Or Transcendental Gastronomy“.
He said among many other delicious commandments:
Animals fill themselves; man eats. The man of mind alone knows how to eat.
[…]
Gourmandise is an act of our judgement, in obedience to which, we grant a preference to things which are agreeable, over those which have not that quality.
For the most fortunate, we have grown beyond the basic necessity of filling ourselves.
We eat, and while we may not all be gourmets, when we have the freedom to choose what we eat, we get to enjoy this privilege. You must be craving for a nice bowl of pasta, pizza, a Michelin-starred restaurant (I’ve never been to one!), Chinese food, cheese… maybe sunshine, holidays, or someone, at least once a day.
Cravings define us as people. You might crave for more pizza once you run out of pizza, you might crave for a pepperoni pizza while eating an anchovy pizza, but you don’t crave for something you have.
We crave for something we don’t readily have – you’ll rarely find yourself craving for pizza while eating pizza… well you might, if you’re eating a ham pizza, you might think “I should have ordered a quattro formaggi”, but you’ll never crave for the thing you’re having right now.
I was craving for a job, or perhaps more honestly, for the money that came with it.
Craving for better, craving for more
Right after graduating from university, I didn’t and I still don’t think I had a great job hunting profile:
- I had a degree in English studies
- I had no network, no mentor
- I had no place to go back to
- I had very little experience (although I used to be a gamer involved in some gaming fansite which helped, quite honestly!)
Looking for a job in the UK was complicated, but I firmly believed the UK was a more open-minded, better place to start a career, and thought it would have been even harder in Paris since the job market was much more saturated. The fact that my degree stank (that’s how we French people describe something worthless: very poetic) didn’t help.
During that time, I was quite literally hungry.
Shortly after, I had found a part-time job in a ramen restaurant that helped me survive. It wasn’t a dream job, but it was far from bad! I love ramen to the bones and I’ve learned a lot with fantastic people, it was a terrific life experience.
I would also be fed at the restaurant quite often, much to my own embarrassment and to the kitchen staff’s annoyance – I was ashamed of being hungry.
The owners were kind (they still are!) and provided me with meals when I had long shifts and occasionally meals on the house.
However, as my shifts were gradually reduced, my earnings were slowly getting lower than my rent. The bit of money I saved from my previous student jobs was being eaten little by little, and I was terrified that things would go sour.
Investing in yourself is like marinating food (not fermenting!)
After more unfortunate events involving my father abruptly passing away back home, I had ironically more time to focus on myself. I took job hunting up a notch, looked at opportunities much beyond commuting distance.
A few hundred applications and some phone interviews later, I finally had a few face-to-face interviews lined up, some dozens of £s away from where I used to live…
For instance, a journey from Canterbury to Camberley takes about four hours each way without HS1, and it cost about £40 which was roughly five hours of work. I spent over half a month worth of my meagre salary in train fares and for a decent interview attire. The total was enough money for over two months of groceries but I had decided then to risk it and bet on my hunger.
There are risks worth taking, even though rationally it was a bit of an all-in, I’m glad I invested that money.
It could be compared with marinating food, it’s bothersome at first, you won’t see the immediate benefits, sometimes it’s… just not quite right, but when done well, it tastes so good.
As a (hungry) immature simpleton who studied humanities and who didn’t know adding too much mint to the lamb could make it taste so awful, maths used to be simple:
If money = good food and work = money, then work = happy.
I granted preference to building a career; like many struggling graduates, I wanted to get out of living from one payslip to another. A proper career would allow me to eat properly.
I won’t deny it, I’m a survivor: luck played its part as my resume came on top for those interviews, but there wouldn’t be such luck if I didn’t go through hundreds of applications before that.
At each interview, the recruiters asked:
Where do you see yourself later? Why should we hire you?
To which I replied, from my own vague memories:
I am not very sure. I would be lying if I told you your company matched my interests. I can tell you however I am hungry. I want to prove to myself that I can start at the bottom of the ladder and climb. I don’t know up to where I can climb, I don’t know when I will find that I have climbed enough, but until then, I will not stop climbing. I’m hungry for success.
I have travelled far today, I spent most of my savings in meeting you. It’s taken me over three hours to get to your office from where I live, and it will take me another few hours to head back. I might go back empty-handed, but you presented an opportunity and I wanted to seize it. Allow me to show you I can show the same level of dedication in your company.
All three interviews I went to ended in offers.
There’s no shame in having hardships. Being able to turn your own weakness into opportunities is what helps you move forward. If you stop because there’s an obstacle, you’ll never clear the obstacle.
Among the job offers I had, there was an online Viagra shop in Croydon, UK, and a pest control company… so completely irrelevant to my interests.
I’ve always been honest about it: I’m not into viagra or pest control… but I accepted the pest control company’s offer, by the way, and it was more interesting than I thought.
What are you hungry for?
Even today, I still mention my hunger during new meetings. People I meet for the first time get to know my love for food very quickly. Recruiters also know my other kind of hunger. Being hungry is all part of my essence.
By the way, I’m certified WSET Level 2! That’s just how much I like my food.
I’m looking forward to getting Level 3, but life has been fairly hectic.
I haven’t gone through it all by myself: I have very good friends who made my meals more enjoyable, especially during tougher times, and built a loving family over the years.
I wrote this after dinner and this post is finally coming to an end, so it’s appropriate to insert a cheesy statement as cheese usually comes after the main meal: I sincerely don’t wish for anyone to go through actual hunger and the anxiety of losing a roof, but hunger does make you appreciate your food more.
I’m still hungry.
What do you want to eat?
Main photo by Charles Deluvio via Unsplash
