Deep fried ignorance
1 Mar
As a freshman in college on the cafeteria meal plan, I looked forward to Fridays. Why? Because Fridays were FRIED-days.
Stand in line for hot food and you’d find yourself among a heavenly buffet of fried delights. French fries, chicken fingers, deep fried zucchini, eggplant, onions. Everything was batter-fried and yummy.
Years later, our country’s love for deep fried food has only blossomed–much like a blooming onion from Applebee’s. (“Mmm…Applebee’s,” you say longingly in your Homer Simpson voice. Personally, I associate Applebee’s with the “McDonald’s Effect.”) Take a walk down the boardwalk along the Jersey shore and you can buy almost anything deep fried: funnel cake, oreos, Snooki. A summer indulgence would be one thing, but this is a year-round lifestyle choice. Americans eat according to their taste buds, second only to their pocketbooks.
I got to thinking about all this after a conversation with one of my oldest friends, Sondra, whom I promised not to mention by name in this blog. (oops!) I love Sondra no matter what, but I love her even more because she actually takes information she learns from, let’s say, Food Inc., and makes impactful changes to her life. Not so for all of Sondra’s friends.
After watching the film, Sondra decided her family would only buy free-range chicken. She shared this with a friend of hers, explaining that she no longer wanted to eat chicken that was not only raised in pitiful, inhumane conditions, but also spent its life sitting in its own shit and eating cow brains. Sondra’s friend scoffed at the idea of switching to the more expensive and less accessible free range chicken, remarking: “I don’t care. ‘Normal’ chicken tastes good.”
I honestly don’t know what to do with myself when I hear a story like this. You don’t care? Really? You don’t care? YOU DON’T CARE?!?
It’s one thing to eat crap before you know what is really is. Or to continue eating said crap every once in a while, despite knowing its nasty and disgusting beginnings. But when someone hands you knowledge on a platter, and you basically say, “F-U. It tastes good;” It makes me want to go to your house, poop in a pan, deep fry it and serve it up. Because, frankly, if all you care about is how good your food tastes, you’ll be just as happy with deep fried shit. Anything tastes good deep fried.
TIPS: Consume This First. Michael Pollan. Weston A. Price Foundation.
I am famous! And it wasn’t only chicken. It was meat too!
Your last three sentences made me laugh out loud. Golden.
You know, my husband is actually finally noticing that the meat I buy at whole foods tastes good. And the meat he buys at Costco — and that we are served at most restaurants, frankly — is bland and tasteless in comparison. Hooray!
So, now we buy crap-meat at Costco almost never, organic and free-range meat at Whole Foods less frequently (budgeting)… and beans more often. It’s a win all around.