PETALING JAYA, April 12 -- I've always struggled with the question, "If you could only eat one dish for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

Not because I imagine myself actually having to make that choice; I'm more of an "answer first, consequences later" kind of person.

It's the hypothetical of getting sick of eating the same thing day after day that weighs on my mind. How could anyone do it? How would I?

Except I have, sort of. For four straight years at university, I ate the same breakfast. Every single morning.

It was a painfully simple meal of microwaved rice, a raw egg, and whatever seasoning I had on hand: soy sauce, chilli crisp, seaweed, or furikake.

It was the first thing my father ever taught me to make for myself, b...