A New Place to Eat

I had the occasion to travel on the Red Line into Boston the other day.  While clutching a railing for support in the swaying cart, I zoned out and let my mind wander as I people-watched because, let's be honest, the Red Line may not be pleasant but it is fascinating!  Occasionally when I have these moments I think 'if I was an alien who was beamed down for the first time into this exact moment - what would I think?'  And then I glance around like I am seeing the scene for the first time.  I would assume subways are where people sleep, read, sit, look unhappy, eat, stand . . . wait, did I just say eat?  Eeew. 

Then my wandering brain really kicked into gear, thinking about our relationship with food and how low down on the list of day to day priorities it is that we have started to 'squeeze it in'.  You see people eating in cars all the time too.  Instant oats, breakfast bars and shakes, grab-and-go snacks and lunches, hot pockets, pop tarts, sandwich wraps, take-it-with-you-soup-cup and we haven't even gotten to drive-thrus yet.  Which begs to be asked:  Are we too busy to eat?  Is the car, subway, bus and train the new dining room table? 

Why do we do this to ourselves?  At what point did we say 'strawberry pancakes in the form of a pop tart on the subway - what a great idea!  It will save me at least 15 minutes over a bowl of granola and yogurt!'

Seriously!?  Is eating an unsatisfying meal while hurtling through the bowels of Boston the best we can do? Then it made me think back to a show I caught on TV where a woman was packing dinner into Tupperware so her three children could eat in the car on the way to their piano lesson, baseball practice and dance recital respectively.  Does anybody else out there think we are losing the plot? 

I think we owe it to ourselves to treat ourselves better, to take a moment and think of what we are giving up in exchange for those precious minutes: good healthy food, some face-to-face conversation, or some 'me' time, a few minutes to reflect on what our day will bring or did bring.  Do we really accomplish anything in those sacraficial minutes anyway?  To quote an age old and over-used verse:

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose,
A time to be born, and a time to die,
A time to plant, and a time to harvest,
A time to weep, a time to laugh . . . .

Well, surely there is a time in between all that to eat too?

Don't Play With Your Food!

I had a candid conversation with another working mom the other day about meal times and menu choices and children.  I have one child, who will eat anything you put in front of her, except mushrooms.  And if she hasn't seen it before, she eats first and asks questions later.  She gobbles down soups, stews, anything roasted, and even prefers vegetables to fruit, which is unusual I think.  Then I have a boy who has a hundred questions before he will even pierce the suspicious item with a fork, doesn't like anything of color and usually responds with 'do I HAVE to?’   

Of course, he has a hard life because he seldom gets his pick of menu choices, and 'so-and-so' from school is so lucky because he gets DINOSAUR chicken and SMILEY face potatoes!  This gives me pause to consider the correlation between food and entertainment - which have gone hand in hand for centuries, after all what is a feast without a court jester?  Dancing?  Live Music?  Even to this day, many other cultures seem to manage this combination beautifully, they embrace the day with a slow breakfast and lunch is a laid back affair in which bread is broken and conversations are the table centerpiece.  Good quality, fresh food, well made or simply and casually combined is appreciated - even expected. 

Most families I know barely have time to defrost something let alone actually make it from scratch, and a languid lunch with some wine and conversation is about as foreign to us as France.  So what are we doing wrong?  Our lives are busy, mine is too as a working mom, and although I have blamed 'the world we live in' or 'this day and age' with a frustrated sigh, it doesn't end there.  Food corporations have taken advantage by playing on our time constraints with campaigns around making meals fun AND quick.  Enter dinosaur chicken.  So it comes to pass that with each trip to the grocery store, we have given up ground in 'savoring supper' while walking down the path to convenient and well-marketed.   The paradox here is that at the end of the day, we don't have more time on our hands, we are still discontent, and the food we eat is no longer all that good for us (made with profit as a goal, not nutrition).

Perhaps it's time that we as a nation stop being lured by 'fun and quick' - being entertained by food is a grossly inadequate placebo for a culture of casual, simple meals and appreciation for the taste of freshness and quality. 

Let's find away to kick 'fun food' out the door, and bring food pleasure back instead!