[Last modified: October, 27 2024 12:46 AM]
I was between the UCL and Birkbeck campuses. Here, an NGO called Food for All provides free food every Thursday from 9 am to 2 pm. While eating their meal, I observed the staff.
The meals, consisting of spaghetti with stir-fried vegetables, bean stew, and wholemeal bread, were both appetising and nutritionally balanced. Light seasoning, a common practice in the UK, further improved the meal’s health.
The man serving the food was about 40 years old and relatively muscular. His skin was white, and he had a short black beard from both ears to the bottom of his chin. He had a calm expression and often leaned against the back wall, giving a casual impression. A dark blue down vest over a skin-coloured hoodie increased that vibe even though he was about 180 cm tall. We shall refer to him here as ‘the chef’.
The man beside ‘the chef’ was about 70 years old. He was a small white man with short white hair. When I first saw him eating food, I thought he was a customer, but after eating, he started touting, so he appeared to be a staff member. He wore a long knee-length down coat and a colourful blue polo shirt. We shall call him ‘the tout’ here.
They both wore blue medical gloves, which made them look aware of hygiene.
‘The tout’ talked to ‘the chef’ after his meal. They appear to be intimate. In a word, their atmosphere was friendly.
During my 15-minute observation, about 20 customers visited. They were generally young, in their teens to thirties, with an equal number of men and women, some with UCL student ID cards around their necks. Ethnicity varied. All were tidy and did not appear to be that cash-strapped, but no one except me had put money on the table, so real poor people did not need to worry if they also did not pay.
On the way in, a white, middle-aged man in a suit without a tie talked to the staff. All-back hair and a microphone on his jacket made him look like a University of London faculty member. He looked familiar with the staff. If the aim was to teach students that eating free food is nothing special, then it is understandable why the NGO gave free food to someone who seemed to have money to spend.
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Writing assignment:
Based on your notes, write a 400 text that renders the atmosphere with emphasis on the main keywords you identified as the most interesting. You can accompany the text with the sketches that you have made while in the field. Reflect on the relation between the experience of taking notes, identifying the main story you want to tell, and on how the notes helped your memory.