CON GAMES: Food, Glorious Food

December 14th, 2006 at 05:39pm Michael Conniff 2

I yield to no man-woman-child in my consumuption of food and lots of it. But there comes a time in every man-jack's life where he must look in the mirror--and in the freezer--and face what he sees like a deer in the headlights or an elk in the rearview mirror. In my case, I have to confess that I have become addicted to processed food.

Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

These thoughts arrive unbidden after a visit from Tom Passavant and David K. Gibson, the two co-chieftans of the Slow Food movement in the Roaring Fork Valley. On my "Con Games" radio show, they talked eloquently of the wonders of fresh food grown in local, sustainable settings. They praised the local chefs who embrace all things fresh the way a fatso addresses a banana split mid-afternoon. And they made me feel like I had just eaten a Big Mac with large fries and a jumbo milkshake on the side. On my "Con Games" radio show, they talked eloquently of the wonders of fresh food grown in local, sustainable settings. They praised the local chefs who embrace all things fresh the way a fatso addresses a banana split mid-afternoon. And they made me feel like I had just eaten a Big Mac with large fries and a jumbo milkshake on the side.You know that feeling? We all do.

My guilt emanated from the inescapable feeling that I had sold out my food soul to Costco, that warehouse in Gypsum where ready-made food is mother's milk. I thought about but I didn't have to think long. You go to Costco and you return with pre-cooked food that actually has some flavor, and very little to remind you that you are selling out the Slow Food movement with every bite.

Hawaiian chicken. Frozen pizza. Lovely chicken curry. Eggplant parmagiana. And on and on, all of it anon.

All of it pre-made to suit your fancy and so you can be glad you have a good meal hot out of the microwave in--what?--seven minutes? Eight on a bad night?

The guilt is overwhelming because I have betrayed the movement that began in Rome over twenty years ago and now stretches to 100 countries. The whole notion of food as culture--of a family meal you relish--has gone right out the window in our world. Even with the miracle of the microwave, dinner is a dish best served cold in our house, with a side order of satellite television.

So I live my live betwixt and between the fast food and the Slow Food movement, a limbo of quick food you'd have to be paid to savor. I wish I could say more, but I have to proceed double-quick to the kitchen to pop that pepperoni pizza in the oven. Life in the kitchen couldn't be better, and it can't get much worse.

Entry Filed under: Food, Basalt, Vail, Con Games, Family, Gypsum