American Food

Iran is capturing sailors, The Stock Market is dropping like a rock, and Turkey has suicide bombings so I want to talk about something far more important, Food.

I have about decided that most of our Nations problems comes from our denial of our traditional culinary traditions. We were great when we were a Nation of meat eating, potato gobbling, desert eating folks who paid small heed to our diet.

Now, I see folks who are living on tiny bits of food and lemon water. This week I saw mention of pro golfer Jason Day's current diet of egg whites, broccoli, sweet potatoes and protein shakes. Tiger Woods has said that he lives on salmon and steamed broccoli. Babe Ruth, perhaps the greatest baseball player ever, lived on steak, hot dogs, pork chops and beer. See the difference?

I worked in a school kitchen and the kids ate what they wanted. It was absurd. For example, we, on occasion, served nachos, meat, chips and cheese sauce, and in addition, we always had Spanish rice and a cooked vegetable. What did the kids eat? Chips and Cheese. For the most part, that was it. No meat and certainly no vegetable. Occasionally, a bit of rice. How can the human body function with such sorry fuel? The answer, not well at all.

For fuel, which is really all food is, you need some substance. As the old Dire Straits song said, "if you want to run cool, you got to rely on heavy handed fuel." A few chips and some runny cheese sauce won't do.

And neither will rice cakes, tofu, steamed edamame or any of the other faddish health food do. Protein shakes are for folks who can't stomach solid food. Egg whites are the nutritional equivalent of the merengue we used to put on lemon pie. These are not foods fit for fully functioning humans.

Neither is junk food and quick packaged junk like box mac and cheese.

And, neither is Oriental food. Japanese, Thai, Viet Namese,  Korea, and Chinese food, while a pleasant change of pace, on rare occasions, is not substantial enough to keep you up and moving, mentally or physically.

Give me American food. Steaks, chops, burgers. Hot open-faced beef or turkey sandwiches with good, rich gravy over good bread. Give me meat loaf with mashed potatoes and green beans. Fried chicken, fried catfish. Grits and cheese and bacon. Eggs and fried potatoes. Rich white sausage gravy over fluffy biscuits. Hot dogs and baked beans, thick ham and Swiss sandwiches and good onion and cheese steaks. These are American foods. This is the kind of diet we ate when we were building this magnificent Country.

Good for you? Who really knows? Folks live a little longer now, but that is largely because of medical advances. But, you know what? At some point, each and every one of us is going to leave this lovely planet, and it won't be on a space journey. Do you want to live on tasteless food, constantly worrying lest you eat something yummy? Do you want to totter through life half starving your body and struggling for energy? Or, do you want to eat some hearty food that will keep you running like a locomotive. And for the weight conscious, Folks are more frequently obese now than they were in the days when I was growing up, the days when we ate decent, real food.

So America, if you want to be great again, eat up. Steak and potatoes tonight for dinner.

America - The Party Continues

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, but think: there's still 2 days left until Monday, so continue to be of good cheer. Just don't get carried away.

In certain ways, we have become a bit Puritanical in recent years. Warning after warning is released by the Medical professionals warning of the dire consequences of eating this and drinking that. The White House, under the guidance of Michelle Obama, seconded those warnings and began touting health as the main issue facing the Nation.

Nonsense. We live longer now than ever, and, except for some aches and pains, live a higher quality life in our later years than royalty did a couple of hundred years ago. Guess what? The folks of my age and our parents are those people who are now old and we never paid a lot of attention to health warnings. We ate red meat, eggs. pastries, rich cheeses, and butter. We drank countless gallons of coffee. At the Holidays, we guzzled egg nog and nibbled fudge. Summer holidays meant meats cooked on grills, butter drenched corn on the cob and mayonnaise laden potato salad, and rich ice creams. And we are still here.

We drank alcohol; hell, we got down right drunk; a lot. We smoked, substances both legal and illegal and we are still here.

Do I have aches and pains? Yep, but they are all juts from the wear and tear of working too hard. Other than that, I have not had a cold in about three years and have more mental energy than most teenagers I see.

Now, I know that it is easy to get carried away. Lord knows I did quite frequently, and when you do, you will pay the Devil's price. Hangovers, upset stomachs, and a post-holiday expansion of your waistline are not fun, but, you get over them. Accident, because you were stupid enough to drive when you are loaded, are not easy to get over and I am sure you don't want to spend time in jail and the courtroom for being caught driving drunk.

So, have fun, let loose a little, and don't worry too much if you over do it a little, but remember, the key word there is little, And, always, if you intend to have more than 1 or 2 drinks, park the car. Give someone else your keys. Take a cab. Sleep over on a sofa. Do not drive. Hangovers and bulging tummies  are inconveniences. Jail cells, courtrooms, hospitals and morgues are tragedies. 

Our American Obsession with Health

The world, and this country, gets weirder and weirder. Now, I have no problem with weird, but I cannot quite wrap my brain around our current dementia.       

We seem to have no soul, no heart, left. Sure, people, some, here and there, display a bit of courage and kindness, but we have become so timid, so frightened. I suppose that is somewhat understandable, we have been through some rough spots, but come on, folks. What we have seen is nothing compared to what my folks saw. They went through World War 2, after scuffling through the Depression, and came through it all ready to roll. To prove it, they built this techno-wonderland we now live in.                                                                                        

We are besieged with advice from our government about our lifestyles. Every week we are told new things from our ever vigilant food fascists. No meat, especially no processed meat. No butter, no margarine, now no vegetable oils at all. Fried foods are a near sin. Eggs may be okay, but no more than one or two a week. Maybe. They'll get back to us on that one. Milk, well maybe, but you really should stick to soy or rice milk. And on and on it goes.               

To make things worse, the restrictions are changed at an ever increasing  rate. Two weeks ago, an announcement came out proclaiming red meat to be perfectly safe, this after years of declaring it a near poison. But, before you can grab a burger, they tell us that it likely causes kidney cancer. For years we were warned off whole milk, now they say that skim and lo-fat are no better. Butter was akin to cyanide for a long time, now it is said to be safer that the once touted margarines. Fry in vegetable oils, not animal fats, was once the word from on high. Now, we have just been told, avoid all vegetable oils.                                                                     

My folks and all the parents of every kid I knew, lived on bacon, eggs, sausage, steaks, and butter. They smoked, drank gallons of coffee and most consumed a fair amount of alcohol. They worked hard, so hard that there was no need to work out in gyms. Even if they worked in offices, taking care of their property and keeping up with their kids kept them in perfectly acceptable shape.                                                                                                                                               

Again, without all the fuss and without the advice from our meddlesome government and the busy- body researchers who are trying to justify the grant money they scammed out of foundations, they built the most amazing civilization the planet has ever seen. And here we sit, whining because that donut we snuck the other day may take ten minutes off our life (it likely will not hurt you half as much as worrying about it).                                                  

Admittedly, they may (emphasis on may) have lived a year or two longer if they had cut back a bit on a few things, but what good is that if you are not productive, if you are just worrying about lasting a while longer. I worked for years around old folks and now that I am getting there myself I can tell you that being old in this country is no picnic. I refuse to be shoved aside and ignored and I definitely refuse to try and eke out an extra year or two by watching every morsel I eat, or by spending hours tormenting my already much worn body in a gym. I have too much to do to worry about stretching out my final years. I love life too much to waste it by clinging to it.