Honoring her resolution to eat mindfully, Becky Sampson has been sitting alone at Roca Verde restaurant in Hoboken, NJ, since last Sunday. Over the course of several days, she has been observed smelling, licking, savoring, and being completely present with an egg white omelet and a side of avocado.
According to Roca Verde waiter Ryan Garrison, Sampson ordered the omelet at 10 AM this past Sunday, but was still “working on it” when the restaurant opened back up this morning. Garrison did not want to pressure her to leave, even though she’d been there through three of his shifts this week.
“I mean, we could use that table, but she looks like she’s really enjoying herself,” Garrison says.
Sampson’s friends say she took so long to finish her brunch that they eventually had to order separate checks and leave.
“I felt bad ditching Becky, but seriously, we’d had three different waiters since we got there,” says friend Janine Rodriguez.
Sampson told friends that eating mindfully would help her lose 10-20 pounds because she’d spend more time enjoying less food. She explained that the process of eating mindfully was very specific: every morsel of food must be smelt, touched, savored, identified, and be given thanks to or absolutely no weight would ever be lost.
In addition to experiencing the food, Sampson, who is “learning to meet her needs in more effective ways than just eating,” spent time at the restaurant knitting a scarf, and scrolling through Instagram.
Friend Ashley McClintock says she is trying to respect Sampson’s lifestyle change, but that it was unpleasant to watch her eat so slowly.
“I actually had a mini anxiety attack. How many flavors to savor can there possibly be in an egg ehite omelet? It has almost no taste at all!” she says.
Reporters tried to reach Sampson for an interview, but the Roca Verde staff urged them not to distract Sampson from finishing the meal she started nearly five days ago.
“We’re hoping she’ll leave soon,” says restaurant manager Seth Morneau, “but we have a mental health professional on standby if she keeps it up much longer.
In the latest reports, Sampson was overheard quietly asking herself, “Am I even hungry right now?”
