Food, Self, and Society

I promised in my last post that I’d write about airline food, so here goes.  As you’ll know from having read this blog, I returned from Montana about a week ago.  I had a great time while there, and I can’t wait to see the area again.  The food there was a lot better, and memorable, than the food on the airplanes to and from there.  Why should that be, though?  The food didn’t suck, and was in fact pretty good.  It just wasn’t… memorable.  On the way to Montana I had a “breakfast skillet” – eggs and sausage and a bit of toast and a couple other things… I don’t really remember what else.  It tasted quite good, but there was nothing special about it.  Except the sausage.  Those two links were some of the best sausage I’ve ever had.  Here’s the thing, though – I don’t think it was worth $6.  Would you?  Then there was the $3.50 (or was it another $6) for the “deli pack” – some pepperoni, crackers, a cheese spread, a cookie or two, and a couple other things.  I would say that was worth it, but I’m not so sure if I was really filled, or if it was just supplemental to the breakfast platter.

About three-quarters of the way through the flight back to New York, I decided to become a vegetarian.  (I’ve since changed my mind, but at the very least I’ll reduce my meat consumption a bit.).  Thank you very much, Peter Singer.  I didn’t think he’d get to me.  I thought I’d be able to just ignore the way these animals had been treated, and continue eating.  But no.  I became so disgusted by the thought of what they had gone through that I could not justifiably continue to eat their flesh.  Again, I’ve changed my mind since then, but I have been trying to make slightly more ethical choices about what I do eat.  I got hungry soon after that, and decided to look for food.  The only problem?  They did not have significant choices for vegetarians; my only options were chips ‘n’ salsa, or a “heart-healthy” pack.  I didn’t want either, as neither seemed appetizing, so I figured I’d just eat when I got home.  Then it was pointed out to me that one, I would be more hungry by the time the flight ended, and two, if I had my meal on this flight, and it was within a certain price-range, my school would cover the cost.  So I ordered the heart-healthy pack.  I don’t really recall what was in it, and if anyone could tell me for certain, I would appreciate it.  What I can tell you, though, is that my worries about its taste were unfounded – it was delicious.  Not only that, but it was probably enough for a (small) meal, too.  I didn’t regret that meal.

What, however, has happened (with regards to food) since then?  Not quite that much.  I’m trying to think of something, anything, to help me extend this entry, and I just can’t do it.  Unless I revisit, but update, an old topic.  Yes, that will do.  Baseball food!  I went to CitiField with my girlfriend and my family yesterday, and had a great time with everyone, too.  Cracker Jacks? Peanuts?  No.  I’ll make up for that next time.

For the first time in quite some time, I’ve made meals for myself two days in a row.  Granted, one of those meals was iced coffee, and the other was only Rigatoni Alfredo with Mushrooms, but still – I made myself meals two days in a row.  The coffee was delicious, and the pasta was really good (not delicious), and I didn’t eat either of them by myself.  I had the iced coffee together with my girlfriend, and the pasta… well, I had half of that meal with my sister.  The other half was spent only with Erin, Andy, Michael, Jim, Pam, and the rest of The Office.

Anyway, that’s just about it.  Hopefully next time I can be a bit more interesting.  Until then, my friends, I bid you adieu.

This is not my video.  I did not create it, nor did I post it.  I’m merely providing a link to what is probably (or so I’m told) the best part of a classic Disney movie.  ”But Jon,” you may ask, “why did you post a video from Alice In Wonderland?  Isn’t that movie old?”  Yes, it is.  But, as seems to be the trend nowadays, there’s going to be a remake.  Of course, that’s not really a fair description.  It’s NOT a remake of the original Alice.  Instead, you have Tim Burton and Johnny Depp coming together again (a masterful pair, those two), creating a movie that is a revisitation, if you will.  Here, we find Mr. Depp as a very… distinguished, shall we say? looking Mad Hatter in Wonderland ten years after Alice has left.

But this isn’t about the movie coming out this Friday (March 5th).  Nor is it about the original Alice movie.  I am, however, going to the midnight showing at my local theater, and that’s about the most second most exciting thing this week.  We’ll talk about the second later.

So, other than tea parties, what other purpose could I have to talking about Alice In Wonderland?  The food that I’ll be eating there.  Movie Food!!!  (I don’t know why I felt the need to put three exclamation points there, but I did it anyway.)  Movie food has such an incredible array of choices, none of them cheap.  There’s the $6 popcorn, which, to the theater’s credit, comes with free refills for the night (but who, I ask, would leave a movie they paid $15 to see in the middle of it?  Isn’t that a bit too much like wasting money?).  Then there’s the $6 drink (also with free refills), or the $5 nachos, the $7 hot dog combo, etc, etc, etc.  That’s not to say, of course, that I don’t give in to the desire to buy these foods.  Indeed, quite the opposite – I almost always try to go get food (though I know it’s wrong), while relying on my friend or sister to remind me that I don’t really want the food there, that I don’t want to pay that much for snacks that I don’t really want or need.  And so lately, I’ve avoided that stuff.

This week will be different, however.  I fully intend to buy the large popcorn as soon as we get to the theater.  The four of us in our group will eat it, and enjoy it, and get the free refill, all in the time it takes for us to get on the line into the theater itself.  At least, that’s my plan.  We’ll see if it actually happens.  Maybe I’ll end up having to go during the movie itself, though I won’t be very happy about that.

Of course, there are many other options to movie food, none of which I plan to do this week (for time’s sake).

1. Buy food at a fast food restaurant nearby, keeping it in its wrapper, in your pockets.  So long as it’s not obnoxiously huge and conspicuous, I don’t think they really care.  Just don’t make a lot of noise, and don’t be annoying to all the other people in the theater while you eat it.  This is much cheaper than buying food in the theaters.  Having done this once (when I went to see 2012), I’ve found that it is indeed the most brilliant method out there.  For the price of half a soda, or less than half the price of the hot dog combo, you can get a more filling amount of food.  Yes, it’s fast food and it’s not good for you, but hey, if you’re eating movie food anyway, is that really that good for you?  I didn’t think so.

   (For the record, I cannot take credit for the creation of that method.   That honor belongs solely to my friend; he knows who he is.)

2. Make your popcorn at home, and bring it in your bag.  This, of course, works only if you could legitimately be coming straight from school (in which case everyone would have a bag anyway), or if you have a girl in your party (or if you are a girl) and she is (you are) carrying a particularly large purse, since it’s not uncommon for you to have one, anyway.

   This method also includes bringing candy from home.  Ultimately, this is your cheapest method, though it’s the most inconvenient.

3. Finally, you can buy candy from nearby stores.  Two stores that I can think of next to the closest movie theater to my house (in a shopping center) specifically sell “movie candy” – the exact same candy we could buy in the theater – for less, or less than half the price.  Sounds good to me.

Of course, the easiest, best thing to do is just to buy your food and candy at the theater.  Yes, it’s more expensive, but you’re avoiding the hassle that would otherwise be involved.

Now that we’ve figured out movie food, let’s talk about coffee.  Nearly every morning, I go to Dunkin Donuts to get myself my daily energy blast.  I know it’s bad for me to be hooked already, and I don’t really need it, but it’s very pleasing to me in the morning, after having been rudely awoken by my alarm clock at such an ungodly hour, to have that nice, hot, sweet cup of coffee handed to me with a smile.  Of course, that’s if Person A is there.  Person B usually jokes with my sister and I (we go together in the morning, on the way to me dropping her off at school), but almost never laughs.  Person B smiles, but never laughs.

Anyway, the point is not Person A or Person B.  The point is Dunkin Donuts.  Occasionally, I’ll get a sausage egg and cheese on a toasted croissant, but more often than not, if I get anything with my coffee, it’s a chocolate donut.  Being that I go so often, it’s only natural that I would seek to obtain coupons and try to save myself some money.  (I know what you’re thinking.  Why not save money by not going to Dunkin Donuts every day, and just make the coffee at home?  My answer is simple – their coffee is better.)  That’s why I bought, for a dollar, a DD calendar with 2 coupons attached to every month.  I used January’s coupons, and decided to wait until the end of the month to use February’s, because I would treat myself at the end of the month.  Then February 28th comes around, and I realize that day’s the end of the month.  Being busy all day, I had my sister bring me the coupons so I could use them on the way home.

Want to know the funny thing?  I didn’t use the coupons.  I didn’t buy anything, even though I wanted to; I was buying donuts just to use the coupons, and that’s bad.  If I didn’t really want what I was buying, what was the point?  I guess that applies to everything, and not just food.  If you have a coupon for something (and will thus save money on it if you buy it), but don’t want the product, don’t buy it!  Ultimately, you’re saving more money by not buying the item in question than if you buy it with a coupon.

Carrabba's Take-Out Bag

“There is no love more sincere than the love of food.”  Truer words have never been spoken.  Think about any person that you really, truly love.  You’ve shared a meal with them, and chances are that you’ve shared more than one meal with them at your home, or their home, or out with that person at a restaurant.  To take that a step further, there’s almost nothing more intimate than to share a meal with a person.  There’s a story behind this night’s eating out, but there’s nothing exceptional about it except that it’s a meal after a long day of being snowed in.  Nothing special – I shoveled for hours, that’s it.

And, finally, the MOST exciting thing happening this week!  Ladies and gentlemen, baseball’s back!  The first Spring Training game happened today.  For those of you not familiar with baseball, this is the preseason.  For those of you not familiar with sports at all, that means that these games are practice games amongst teams who will play each other for points when regular games begin.  Yes, this is a very, very simplified way of putting it.  But that’ll suffice for anyone who doesn’t know a thing about sports.

So yes, ladies and gentlemen, baseball is back.  That being the case, it’s time to talk about stadium food.  That is, food memories at the various baseball stadiums in the NYC area.  First and foremost, there’s Shea Stadium.  Yes, I know it’s not there anymore, but I miss it, a lot.  I had the best hot dog I’ve had in my life there.  It wasn’t at a Mets game (it was a Springsteen concert in the stadium, in October of 2003).  My father had been away for a year with the military, but on that day, the day he had come back, we went to the Bruce concert.  It was freezing, but my dad got me two hotdogs (we each had two), and they were absolutely fantastic.  I’d go into more detail, but this entry’s approaching the point where it’s too long.

Next, of course, comes CitiField, the new home of the New York Mets.  There’s a much, much larger food selection.  I’m not going to go into detail here (mainly because I haven’t actually bought food, as far as I can remember), but I can assure you that later in the year I will be going to games, and I will eat there.  They have sushi.  I’m not getting it, because there’s something inherently wrong with eating sushi at a baseball game (in the United States).  But they have it.

Of all the odd foods I’ve ever had at a stadium, though, the best by far was at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.  I was in California, and the Mets were in town.  I was staying about 30 minutes by train from San Francisco… how could I resist going to the game?  Again, there was a great selection of food, but I chose Garlic Fries.  Essentially, they’re potato wedge-type fries, cooked with garlic.  The flavor permeates the fries, and the garlic smell permeates your body for days.  But gosh, were they good.  The hot dogs there weren’t bad, either.  Hell, I think it’s probably impossible to get a bad hot dog at a baseball game – the two just seem to go together – baseball and hot dogs!

That being the case, let’s talk about the Brooklyn Cyclones.  The food in the stadium is really good, but the best food anywhere near there is about a two to five-minute walk away.  That’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs!  After the ones that were at Shea Stadium, these may be the best hot dogs in the world.  Add to that the Cyclones are the Mets minor league affiliate, the stadium is really, really beautiful, and it’s on the water so that you have a beautiful view when watching the game (or, really, when you’re not watching the action of the game), and it’s an amazing little baseball experience.

Sticking with the minor leagues, let’s go over to the Staten Island Yankees.  As a partial-season ticket holder, I was entitled to all-you-can-eat hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, soda and water.  This was great.  The food was average for a baseball stadium (which, in other words, means that they were fantastic – though maybe I’m biased by my love for baseball), but it was unlimited until the end of the 7th inning.  Add to that that it’s my hometown team, the beautiful stadium, the beautiful view of the New York harbor and Manhattan skyline, and the general minor-league baseball atmosphere that I love, and it’s amazing.

And, to finish tonight’s tour de baseball, we’ll turn to Yankee Stadium.  Concerning the old Yankee Stadium, I’ve had a hot dog there, that I can remember.  It was great, but nothing particularly noteworthy.  At new Yankee Stadium, however, I had the delight of having buffalo chicken sliders, and soda in a collectible cup.  The food was an interesting choice, and it was definitely delicious, but the price is somewhat of a hindrance – $10 for three little sliders, and there might have been fries.  Actually, if there were fries included, that’s a really good deal.  The food, however, was not as important that night – among the most exciting things in baseball, one of the best is when the Yankees beat the Red Sox at home (and that’s what happened that night).

And now that this entry has reached over 2,000 words, I bid you adieu.