“The instant noodles that I ate alone in Ithaca might have been identical to the instant noodles of my childhood, but the taste, so to speak, was entirely different. The reasons for this, of course, were obvious. My mother was not there. My sister was not there.

Instant Noodles, Rattawut Lapcharoensap [from the book Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone]”