I made a stew last night. As I chopped the carrots, celery, onions and garlic; cubed a pound of lean round steak, it felt like I was partaking in an ancient ritutal of my European ancestors. I added herbs, parsely, a little olive oil to brown the meat in our aging cast iron dutch oven. I put it on at 6:00 and it was ready at 9:30 (our Friday night dinner hour these days).
Stew.
A peasant food so rich in nutrients and simplicity that it seemed a bit absurd that one would buy any packaged food at all for dinner when one could whip up a flavorful meal by using basic ingredients.
Served with garlic smashed potatoes (skin still on the potato), and a salad of green leaf lettuce dressed lightly with olive oil and homemade tarragon vinegar, the meal was complete.
That was dinner.
My question this morning, after I read this article on Macdonald's food is why does this institution of crap thrive? Where did our society go wrong? Really wrong. It's a good question and one that every average first world person should ask themselves each and everytime we step through the giant grocery stores and massive shelves of package food. What have we done to our food?