View Katy's Food Journey 5/17/12 in a larger map
All
Roads Lead to Bermuda
I
have to say that with this week's tracking of my food, I was sorely tempted to
simply recreate my menu from last week- ultimately copying and pasting my map
then sending it on it's merry way into the world of blogging. Alas good
people, I resisted that temptation and, for the most part, branched out.
Now I am a sad human being for many reasons: 1- I am over a week late
publishing this post (and for that I sincerely apologize) 2-It is Memorial Day
and most food places that I'm trying to call are closed...presumably so the
employees can be at a cookout eating fake Bermuda* food with their friends and
family and 3-Most of my map is going to be in Bermuda this week and I feel sad
about this fact.
I
put off creating my map and writing my blog post because I've grown to be very
frustrated with food in the last few weeks. Tia talked about having her
duct taped blind fold torn from her face and I'm experiencing very similar
emotions. In my mind for a long time eating healthier was mostly
synonymous with making something not 100% from a box or not obtained at a
drive-through window. I do think there is something valid behind this
line of thought, but that worldview has more or less been shattered.
About a month ago, we made a sourdough starter so we can start making
fresh bread instead of getting store bought bread full of preservatives from
Bermuda and other bad places. I got so excited that this fresh, homemade
sourdough bread was on my menu for the day because it was "local"
until I remembered that the flour came from somewhere else. In a lovely
10 minute reunion with Target's hold music that included songs of food and love
(not in the same sentence), I met another
dead end and begrudgingly placed the yellow pin for my flour in Bermuda.
Moment
of confession: I'm guilty of eating a Super Pretzel soft pretzel this week at
my nephew's baseball game. And the cheese cup. For a moment, I strongly
considered not buying it because of the shame it would bring upon this entry,
but I felt like that would fall in the realm of "cheating" so I ate
it. I enjoyed about half of it as my niece was eating her "half" as
fast as her little hands would let her but felt a little guilty the whole time.
Regardless of my personal food failure (that was preservative free
according to the website), I have to send out a sincere thank you to the
nice young lady working at the concession stands. When I asked if she
could tell me the brand of the pretzel she cleared off the "freezer acting
as a table" of it's ipod dock, half eaten nachos, notebooks, cash
container, cell phones, purses, etc. to look at the box without a single
complaint. I'm appreciative of people like her and know that she'll go
far in this world if for no other reason that her kindness to a food-concerned
citizen.
After
an unsuccessful research attempt last week with my string cheese-I'm guilty of
this as a repeat food- I decided to explore the website listed on the
product bag. I went to the website only to realize it was all in French.
Thanks to my Google Chrome browser, it was able to translate most of it
to English so that I could at least halfway understand what was happening.
To my dismay, the first thing I saw was this: "HEALTH HAZARD- may
contain a cleaning solution in some bags of 4 liters of partly skimmed 2%
microfiltered brand NeilsonL Trutaste..." What does this mean, you
may wonder? I'm not entirely sure as Google Chrome stopped translating
there. I was, however, able to infer that there was potentially a cleaning
solution in some type of partly skimmed 2% cheese. Gross, right? My
issue with this is that it was a little note on the side bar of the website and
not flashing
across the screen.. How did the people who purchased this "extra
clean" cheese learn about the contamination? Does being a
responsible consumer of food products mean that we need to check our food
websites daily for information such as this? I'm inclined to say that it
is the food companies' responsibility but that is just placing blame where it
doesn't fully belong. If I truly care about local food and knowing what
is in my food, I have to do better with knowing where my food
is coming from and all of the crazy adventures it has before arriving on my
plate. I can't put that responsibility, or blame, with anyone else but
myself. Step 1 in this learning/growth process: my food maps bringing on
a mild depression.
Feeling
A Little Sad in Indianapolis,
Katy
*
I would like to send out an apology to the good people of Bermuda. You
are not the source of evil. It is simply a metaphor we have decided to
use in reference to the Bermuda Triangle and so many mysterious happenings
there. You're familiar.
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