Your Feel Good Story du Jour: "My Road to Foodie Land"

[FunnyJohn]

Essay by Rachel Lu

"As slow-food advocates go, I'm not obsessive. My kids are familiar with fruit snacks and Kraft mac-and-cheese. Michael Pollan has his charms, but don't let him fool you with his idiot-savant persona. He has multiple best-selling books and only one child to feed. Reading his books, it becomes obvious that he does not understand that, for a harried mom of three, a McDonalds drive-thru can be an absolute life-saver. There are days when French fries are, in fact, a desperate necessity.

Sometimes they aren't, though. And while I'm not bothered that Pop Tarts exist (even though I personally find them gross), I think it's borderline tragic how people are reduced to processed-food peonage by their lack of culinary knowledge. I don't say that out of high-minded moralism. It's just sad to think of how much they're missing. In so many ways we live in a depraved, modernist hell-hole, and yet the food is just absolutely incredible. Or can be, if you know how to take advantage."