Oh My Gulay

The plate is laid on top of the table, next to the flat screen monitor and the qwerty keyboard she personally requested for her desktop PC over a year ago. Forcing the zip-lock bag to open, its leafy contents tumble down like an avalanche towards the gullible tableware. It forms a pile high enough to topple down and tossing the vegetables on another bowl spare us the guilt of letting morsels get wasted when it accidentally falls to the ground.

On the plate it sprawls like a hillside garden waiting for harvest. Romaine Lettuce - crisp and tender - serves as the base of the entrée. Dewdrops forming on the edges make the leaves more appetizing. Slices of Cucumber and Patola add character to the raw dish. It breaks the monotony of chewing leaves with plump fruits picked from capricious crawlers. Huge tomatoes brush new hues to the verdant monochrome. Its yellow seeds may pale in texture but finding them clinging on swathes of green, Ones imagination flies as we are reminded of our long lost childhood.

"Ubusin mo yang gulay sa plate mo o hindi ka maglalaro sa labas!"

Thin rings of onion and thick squares of cheese add flavor to the bland salad. Enhanced with garlic, soy sauce and vinegar dressing, it leaves a tinge of Adobo in one's aftertaste. The Garden of Vegan's Delight, brought this morning by my supervisor - to be shared and enjoyed by those in the room - reminds of time when such sight used to be a source of deep revulsion.

I don't remember the day I traded vegetables for fish, but when my taste buds have learned to get intimate with the evergreens, my mind reinvigorates as each thought of gustatory indulgence cleanses whatever is tainted within me.