CELEBRITY COLUMN: ‘Vegetables’, writes Maria Goretti

You know I have realised that people sometimes don’t want real. They are happy with a world of fantasy. I guess that has aspirational value.

Why do real, when you can escape it? It’s actually something I do too, to escape monotony at its buffed dullest. But I feel if you can stay real in your flights of fantasy, it may just be a wonderful place. How bi-polar does this sound.

I remember the time I was working for MTV, and was pulled up for not having anything, that stood out from the rest, everybody had brown eyes and straight hair, I was told. The fact of the matter is, yes I did have brown eyes and straight hair, and no matter how boring that was, that was the real me.

Even today people feel that I have the same look, so let me just say this.

I really like being me, it’s the easiest way to be, I can’t go wrong being me.

I feel the same way about vegetables. I think vegetables have such a unique flavour and texture and the best way to consume them is as close to its natural self. I really don’t like vegetables that have been over flavoured. I like to taste the vegetables for what they are, rather than messing with it too much.

It’s like meeting people at a social gathering. Everyone is so well turned out, hair in place, perfect manners, beautifully dressed. But the fact of the matter is, we all have three faces, one for the public, one for home and then one which is our true selves, that we sometimes don’t even want to meet.

We all basically need to be like a vegetable, and dare to be us at all times.

I think all of us change with age and experience. Some of us grow up, some of us just hang on to our past, and some live in fear of “what-if”. But I really feel that if we are able to hang on to what we are on the inside and still use all our failures to our advantage, we are just one step closer to who we could truly be. If we are able to operate from a place of not expecting anything, versus a tit for tat way of life, I think we would all be better people.

So we just need to go back to being our natural selves. The ones we were before life knocked us over, and then took us on a roller coaster ride, dragged us through wet mud and kicked us through a bale of hay. I’m sure you got the picture..

Well all you have to do now is, shower and change, and you will be back to being you.

So my mornings like most mums, starts early, with getting the kids out of bed and then mostly ends up with running to catch the school bus or chasing it to the next stop, in my nightie with weird pyjamas and a coat thrown over, and that is my reality.

And I know for sure, that most of the people you see in magazines, newspapers and on the movie screen, have the same issues of bad hair days, skin problems, heartaches, wanting to be a few kilos lighter or fitter.

The only thing is you won’t know that, except through a gossipy tabloid, that actually has no business doing business off someone’s personal life.

And like the Baz Luhrman song, ‘Always wear sunscreen’, I actually do not subscribe to beauty magazines, they only make you feel ugly.

There is a lot of prep that goes into making a person that stunning, and many people who work tirelessly, to make that picture have “wow’ value..

Ask me, I too look fabulous in certain pictures, and I love all the fussing about when I’m working, and that’s how entertainment works, but I’m not that drop dead out of this world gorgeous in real life, and I’m totally aware of that.

I just clean up good.

And so as long as you keep your basic essence, you can have fun with yourself, and if you can refrain from believing that the photoshopped you or the insta-filter you , ‘is you’ , your will be fine.

Actually the truth is, what we truly are with all our flaws is perfection, designed by the maker of the universe, so lets’ just respect that.

So as long as you do not take away from the real flavour of the vegetables and destroy its nutritional value, all is great to go on your plate. I have learned to present vegetables to my kids in the most sneaky ways, infact I’m like MataHari where vegetables are concerned. Pumpkin in muffins, beetroot in cakes, cauliflower in mashed potatoes, creamed spinach in choux-pastry.

My kids more often than not, give me ideas on how I can avoid the vegetables and make it tastier, and I just feign ignorance, about figuring it out.

Such is life, I have to be fake, to keep it real.