Food Fight

Miles driven: 999

So a few of you have recommended a book called The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I thought I would give it a go. The gist of the book is that America has a food chain that is mostly untraceable and often based on corn – look at any label and see the amount of high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, citric acid – your Chicken McNuggets are (only slightly) chicken that is fed corn, breaded in corn, and fried in corn oil (plus some petroleum). Beef cows are fed a diet of corn (not a natural food for them) and antibiotics. We are now even breeding salmon that can eat corn. So much food in general is over-processed and over-refined.

I should note that I still have about 100 pages left in the book – but it's not exactly a glowing picture of the American food system. Now Britain doesn't have the best reputation in the culinary scene – but cows there can only be grass fed, and eggs are only free range (it becomes illegal to cage hens in the UK as of next year). There are no preservatives to speak of – I dare you to find a loaf of bread in a London market that doesn't expire tomorrow. Beer is hand pumped from wooden casks that spoil in 3 days once tapped. The cheapest onions, grapes, and strawberries in the grocery store are still organic.

So I've had a fair amount of dread about what I was going to find when I got home. But the simple truth is that I have been absolutely shocked and awed – in a good way. Of course quality food is always available if you have the cash...but even within our meager travel means I have found the following: Hawaii – opah fish in the grocery store, line caught that morning and on ice by 4pm. Los Angeles – a farmer's market selling goat cheese made less than 50 miles away, and $1.29 tacos made with real meat and chicken. Portland – food trucks cooking with fresh ingredients, handmade beer literally on every corner. Walla Walla – a corner bistro serving Washington river wild salmon tartare, grass fed steak frites, and organic wines. Boise, Idaho – BOISE, FREAKING IDAHO, PEOPLE – the corner pub we went to listed their suppliers by name with grass fed beef for burgers, happy outdoor pigs for ribs, hand made Idaho cheeses and organic potatoes. The beer list included how many miles each beer had travelled to get to you in case you care to reduce your carbon footprint. Jackson Hole, Wyoming – another corner pub, and yet the salmon and trout are listed by which river they come from, the bison meat is from a farm down the street, and burger meat is also local and grass fed.

I keep waiting for the big disappointment. We said after Portland that the food scene would be bleak. When Boise amazed us, we said Wyoming was where we where we would be let down on food. But that hasn't happened. Eventually, I know we will be forced to eat at some chain, serving over-processed marginal food -- but so far I am absolutely loving what I see.