The Fourth of July picnic table is set with enough heart wrenching, artery clogging meat and high caloric food to send a doctor into a coma. Like most holidays in this country we forget the purpose and turn to the thing that makes the day for us- and its usually the gift of food. An over abundance of food that we usually give to ourselves. Those who frequent the gym and run the track or walk the prescribed 30 minutes a day allow ourselves to feast as if there were no scales, no high blood pressure and no tomorrow. Every culture in this nation has a path to the dining table that is strewn with delicious but often unnecessary food. As we slip into economic doldrums we turn to something that we must have for survival as a source of comfort- food. What other choice of comfort do poor people have?
Studies show that most cigarettes and cheap alcoholic beverages are consumed in poor areas. It is what they can afford to feel good. I have met people who have never taken a vacation, never been out of New York City, and only seldom out of Harlem, but they smoke two packs a day and drink malt liquor whenever they get a chance. When it is time to take care of the family they do the one thing that has been done for centuries in every country in the world. They feed them. In some cultures it is a sign of affluence to maintain a lot of weight. That doesn’t mean its good for the heart and less often satisfying for the soul. But nothing has been put out there to replace it. Nothing that the common man can afford.
When you go home, when you go to visit, when you want to be rewarded you turn to food. Mothers cook fabulous meals for their kids home from college, kids who are sometimes on scholarships or on skimpy meal plans that have kept the makers of Ramen Noodles in business for years. Visit a friend in another town and you’ll probably walk into feast fit for a king, complete with drinks and dessert. And of course you know that we always reward ourselves with food, especially when we can’t buy that new pair of shoes or that hot dress. A pastry is cheaper, the sugar giving us a high to replace the low we felt when we saw the price tag that reminded us the butter smooth leather purse was utterly unaffordable. If we are feeling down and the price is right we will coat the sadness of poverty with a second pastry or a candy bar. Or even better one of those high calorie dinners from a fast food joint- the only thing you feel you can afford.
It is hard to let go of food as comfort in hard times, especially when the price of food that is good for you is so high. Macaroni and cheese is much cheaper than a chicken and spinach salad. A bag of chips is cheaper than a bag of fruit. Unfortunately most of our children are not accustomed to tightening the belt a bit and giving up snack food in favor of having great healthy meals. We want to give to them, not keep denying them. We forget that we are creating bad eating habits- eating and drinking to appease when things don’t go well.
Mama’s love does not always have to include food that adds pounds. My last visit home to my mother I told her in advance what I didn’t eat and wouldn’t eat and suggested that she let me cook most of the time and add some new recipes to her files. A recent dinner I had catered for the first day of a two days meeting had fruit for dessert- a surprise to all and complaints from none. I had to balance the daily intake of my guests with their earlier lunch which contained some amazing cookies. They would have eaten coconut or red velvet cake had it been served because we are programmed to clean our plates and accept the gift of high caloric food without question. A friend whose speciality is Louisiana cuisine invited several of us for dinner and delighted us with food so light we wondered what was wrong. She said this too was from the south as we savoured each morsel.
Food can be a comfort to us without having the harm and calories of comfort food.
So I am looking at the grill this weekend and wondering what I can learn from it. Its not frying so that’s good. And we can cook our vegetables on it without much oil if we are smart. But the problem with a holiday is the desire to eat until one pops. It is not that you have a choice of hot dogs, burgers, steaks and chicken, its that you take and eat them all. BECAUSE ITS A HOLIDAY!!! You drink a massive amount of punch or beer, make the mistake of thinking potato salad IS salad and put five tablespoons of heavy whipping cream on top of your shortcake- removing the berries to get to the cake. Its the fourth so you have two servings.
But it becomes a habit to eat and eat and eat your way out of sadness, out of poverty. Mississippi has the highest obesity rate in the country. It is one of the poorest states in the country. On a trip a few years back I had to help a vegetarian friend locate decent food in a state that is basically farm land. The south is a culinary world where corn is creamed or fried, greens are marinated in pork fat and every meal is accompanied with cornbread and biscuits. To turn down a meal is sacrilege or, at the least bad manners.
Food is all most people feel they have to offer in lean times. The father of their mothers is the best they can hope for. It is the food that got parents and grandparents through the lean years when Christmas was one or no presents and when everyone sat around the television and had huge slices of apple pie with a cup of ice cream on top while watching television. What we fail to remember is that those people got up the next day and did physical labor in factories and fields. They cleaned houses and highways. They did not sit behind a desk and work on a computer for hours coffee with cream on one side and a buttered bagel on the other. These people moved. We don’t.
It is time that our cultural habits be amended for the times. Even the Colonel sells grilled chicken. I stood in line behind a woman questioning the size of the grilled chicken parts. They seemed smaller than the fried she suggested and opted for the latter to get the most for her money. In the end that choice may cost her.
What is wrong with a smaller portion of potato salad – or making less potato salad for the Fourth? Why not make sweet potato oven fries instead of french fries. Why not bring your health into the 21st century by eating what is good for you?
If there is nothing you can give your loved ones but food give them good AND healthy dishes instead of throwing them a bag of chips or thick creamy casseroles without a hint of green. You don’t have to go to a book store to get a recipe book. There are many cooks on television that make healthy choices, the library has books you can check out. It wouldn’t hurt to get off your sofa and stop feeling sorry for yourself in down times (and eating sugary treats that could be replaced by one piece of fruit) and walk or run to a library. With your kids, with your spouse, with your friends. Stop depending on food that is bad for you and make good good food for yourself.
It is the American way to food independence.
