There certainly are books about road food; Jane and Michael Stern, who are noted food and pop culture historians, wrote the most famous one, which is called – ta da! – Roadfood. Interesting stuff. I have one or two of their books and like them.

True story: I was in a convenience/country store here early one autumn morning a couple years ago, waiting to pay for coffee. A woman and her daughter, about 6, were in front of me and holding up the line while the kid was looking for a snack, I guess to take to school, and her mother kept telling her to find something healthier than Little Debbie, etc. I pointed out a basket of local apples and the woman looked at me like I was nuts. Her exact words? “I didn’t mean that healthy!” *sigh* Welcome to America.

And welcome back again, Shore. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

The trip simply revealed how much I’ve learned here about food, and how that knowledge has re-shaped my decision-making process. It’s even possible that customer demand is shaping what’s offered. I didn’t go into a single gas station or convenience store along the way where I could find at least a banana or apple.

Has anyone ever written a book about road food? It’s occurring to me this very minute – that could be very, very interesting. Travel and food – with a side of music. What could be better?

shoreacres’s last blog post..Headin’ Down to the Crossroads

Hey, I’m not the food police. I can’t even police myself 100%. But I do think it’s clear from the information and research we have at this point (I keep in mind the dictat on eggs has changed a billion times) that trans fats kill people. Pretty simple.

By the same token, HFCS is implicated but not proven beyond a doubt as a major player in diabetes, which kills people. Avoiding it is harder than avoiding trans fat, so when I see — as I did with the post about the strawberry jam labels — that Smucker’s sells one version in Canada and another here that’s loaded with HFCS, corn syrup and far more sugar I can’t help but get angry. That huge conglomerate has proved it’s possible to make the product without the HFCS or any corn syrup at all, so why aren’t they selling it here? Millions of Americans equate Smucker’s with jams and jellies and just grab it off the shelf and hand over their dead presidents without a thought.

But I digress. Fresh, hot grits with butter, salt and pepper is breakfast food from the gods. I’d have eaten mine, yours and the guy at the next table’s. Then I’d have started over!

1. When I ordered the catfish stuffed with etoufee at Uncle Henry’s and thought, “I could get this grilled”.
2. When I ate the fried catfish and sweet potato french fries at the Ground Zero blues club – best I ever put in my mouth.
3. When I confronted the “basic southern breakfast” of eggs, bacon, biscuits with sausage gravy, grits with butter, and hash browns fried in butter.
4. When I walked into a variety of gas stations and convenience stores and made my usual beeline for the Pringles (peanut butter crackers, rice krispie treats, RC cola…) It was transfat heaven.

What I discovered is that you CAN eat a fairly healthy and balanced diet while traveling, but it is a whole bunch of work, and requires trips to grocery stores. I don’t know why I want junk food while traveling, but I do – it’s the only time I want M&Ms – but I beat myself about the head and ears and told myself, “Miss Ella wouldn’t like this!”

I had a wonderful time and despite it all only put on two pounds. It had to have been the bourbon-pecan pie, or maybe that sweet potato pudding…..

shoreacres’s last blog post..Headin’ Down to the Crossroads