As many of us here in the states pig out this Labor Day Weekend with burgers, chips, hot dogs and coleslaw, many of us will continue to do so long after this final salute to the summer passes. It's an inevitable thing, we will get hungry, crave food, find little time to prepare it and settle for a quick cooked feast.
We have all manner of frozen entrees to fall back on, pizza parlors down the street or the horrible and ubiquitous McDonald's and Burger King to boot. Everyone is "over scheduled" and these places are here to serve our gastronomic standards. It is a culture of wanting it now. Wanting is tasty and wanting little effort.
We're fat here in America. That's what all the latest data suggests if you flip through a news website and such. Our life expectancy is down too. Food is either a guilty pleasure or a means to express the excessiveness that is pervasive in this country. It blinds us to everything outside of our borders. Many of us have been made thick headed with little to no intellectual curiosity for the bigger picture. We retreat to our shopping malls and graze in food courts and put aside critical thinking for instant gratification. Through this uperficial overload, we have lost one fine art that needs to return for the sake of our taste buds and waistlines........
The Slow Cooked Meal
Yes I'm aware that many of you may indeed take the time to prepare a well made, home cooked meal. But the norm is usually to go for something fast. Especially if you have families and work. I've seen it with my friends. There's no intent to improperly feed the kids but there is a lack of time.
Being a young single man that is allegedly in the prime of his life, I felt that I would be at an advantage. Indeed my grandmother took the time to deliver a slow cooked meal each day, seasoning, simmering and baking. But she was retired and it was her labor of love. My perceived advantage was that I was free of worry from kids and coordinating my time with a spouse. I was supposed to have TIME. Lots of it. And with this time I would develop my culinary skills and break from the stereotypes of single men who supposedly live on pizza and beer.
NO!
It would be different with me! I would cook, season and simmer some of the best meals around and dazzle any lady friend I might have over in my very modest abode. That was 6 years ago.
Today is a much different story. Many times I'm forced to fall back on Chinese food or something of that nature because I didn't have any time to buy groceries to prepare these meals. It's a terrible cycle, really. When I finally do stock my shelves full of food, I have dishes in mind but jettison these plans and just cook up something that's fast. Where did the discipline go?!?! Am I becoming the fat gluttonous American that they speak of in the news? Will I be one of those who die early since our life expectancy has gone down or will I flourish living off slow cooked meals?
Wholesome Goodness
Slow cooked foods melt in your mouth and deliver incredible flavor. No need to douse it with tons of salt. The slow cooking has brought out all the texture and nuances. It was there all along! We just needed to take our time.
You'll see food manufactures using terms like"homemade" or "wholesome goodness" and even "gourmet" to evoke the feelings of that last great home cooked meal you had. It's a great way to get you to buy their product. But how "gourmet" can potato chips be? How "homemade" can those cookies be when they are made by the thousands at some evil cookie processing plant? How much "wholesome goodness" can be packed into a can of soup thats 50% sodium?
It's a sham! You know it! I know it! The American people know it!
A Fickle Beast
At the end of the day, America does not want fast food over good home cooking. They want convenience and they settle much to the pain of their arteries. There is the influx of organic foods which are overpriced and the food supplement industry is thriving with the sale of vitamins and herbal enhancers. They are flying of the shelves with no solid proof that all of them work. Most of them are not even regulated by the FDA. We take them anyway to compensate for our bad habits during the weekday rush and to chase away the guilty weekend pleasures when were too worn out to make that slow cooked meal.
I don't eat McDonald's and by no means am I "fat." But could I be eating better? Yes. Can I do better? Yes. How? That's the monkey on my back right now. I have taken steps to curb the eating out and focus more on eating food made at home. Even if I am too tired to make it. The dishes pots and pans? I'll wash those later. Maybe in a week or so when I have the time. Maybe sooner since I don't want to be too gross.
Either way it's a small price to pay if you are trying to avoid being a statistic, right?
Coming up next on U N L O A D E D........
Making a break for it.
