「故事·听力」My Dad Makes Me Eat Bugs Every Day
My Dad Makes Me Eat Bugs Every Day
Hi folks, I'm Mark and I'm 15 years old. Have you ever met people who bore you with endless phrases like, "I'm vegan," "you should try it too," "I only eat plant-based foods," "You should be vegan too"? It's very annoying. But that's still OK, compared to the diet my father went on, and what it led to.
It was a beautiful night, and I was sleeping soundly. And I was having dreams about food. Don't laugh, but it felt like I was in a different world and I was completely surrounded by food. French fries grew on the ground, and instead of flowers - there were burgers. There was a river nearby, and it was carbonated like Coke. But suddenly my peace was disturbed by a sound, and I awoke. I heard something rattling in my room, and I thought it was coming from the ventilation duct. I was a little scared, but I got out of bed anyway and decided to find out what was going on. I went to the grille, and just as I bent down to look in, a big locust flew right into my face, and started flying around the room, and hitting all the walls. I swear to you, I thought I was going to have a heart attack from fright. I wish it was just a nightmare and I could wake up back to the world of burger flowers, but no. It was my reality, and different bugs had been a part of it for months.
It all started when my dad started having health problems. I have to say, his problems were a matter of time. He's been living a very unhealthy lifestyle for a long time, and he put on a lot of weight in the last few years. Dad ate everything in huge quantities, and he could easily eat a large basket of wings in just a couple of minutes. So when the problems started, the doctors advised him to go on a diet. And naturally, my father didn't want to put up with that. So he went to different doctors until he found one that showed him all the possible outcomes in the form of cancer, diabetes, and other stuff like that. And finally, dad got down to business. From that moment on, our whole family switched to a healthy diet. My mother and I did it to support my dad. Especially since it didn't cause any inconvenience. We just reduced the amount of food we ate, and started to eat more plants and vegetables. Dad even started exercising to get back in shape like a few years ago. But no matter what he did, he still had anxiety and fear of future illnesses. So he began to spend a lot of time on the internet, looking for a way to avoid them. And one night, he came home with something very unusual.
He put a plastic bowl on the table, and there was something alive in it. It looked like a cricket or a grasshopper. And then dad started explaining what he was up to. He read on the internet about the chitin diet, or whatever it was called. This diet helped to suppress the growth of cancer cells, lower cholesterol, and a billion other useful things. But the fact is that for this diet, you had to eat bugs! I couldn't believe my father really meant it. It was more like some kind of prank. I really wanted to get up, go find the hidden camera in the kitchen, and then have a good laugh about the whole situation. But the whole thing with the bugs was real. Dad began to persuade us to at least try it. He said that in Asian countries it is generally considered a common dish. Okay, my mom and I agreed to try this exotic food and think about it. So dad started cooking. Half an hour later there was a plate with a couple of grasshoppers in front of me.
The spices smelled really good and stimulated my appetite. But the general view of the whole dish was simply frightening. I took the grasshopper in my hand and prepared to try it. At that moment I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff, where I had to jump off and into deep water. I just looked down and was afraid. But I knew the longer you thought, the more scared you got, so I just dropped the bug in my mouth and started chewing. A second later, I grimaced. It wasn't the taste, it was how it felt. Something kept crunching in my teeth. It's like I ate an eggshell or something. All the while my father stared at me with bulging eyes, waiting for my verdict. Unfortunately, I couldn't please him, because I didn't like it at all. But at the same time, I didn't want to offend my father, because he was just trying to take care of his health. So I said it was interesting. Yep, interesting. I think "interesting" on the taste scale lies perfectly in the middle between disgusting and amazing. But my mom started to praise my dad and said that she really liked it, and that she was ready to support my dad in this endeavor.
So there were big changes in our family diet...
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