What’s more fun than food?

Makins' for taco salad

A friend once said that they would rather have a little bit of something that tastes “real good” than a whole plate of “something that tastes… okay”.  I didn’t understand or agree with that statement twenty years ago, but now that I’m more seasoned, it makes perfect sense.

Back in the day, I was exercising heavily and when it was time to eat, I wanted quantity and lots of it.  That sounds redundant and is, but for those of us who like to eat, it just sounds right.  Food!  Give me lots of food.  Food is fun and it’s more fun if there’s lots of it.  Think Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and after-dinner and snacks and desserts.

Ug-Lee's jambalaya

I wanted “seconds” – or even thirds!  I wanted that great big chicken-fried steak, the one that over-lapped the platter and had the cream gravy slathered over it.  I wanted a heaping pile of buttery corn on the side and a couple of those fist-sized rolls to go with it.

How about a side dish of fried okra to bump it up to just the right place on the culinary scale and a huge glass of sweet tea?  Talk about delicious!

I like boudin or boudain, whatever.  I like it a lot.  In fact, I eat boudin with onions and mustard pretty much every morning.  Not to worry, my cholesterol and blood numbers are right down the middle.  I just like it.  I read one time that onions are so good for your heart, that you should eat them with every meal.  It’s probably the only healthy thing in that breakfast meal, but who’s checking?

Cornish Game hens stuffed with boudin

I used to eat a lot of food and still do, but when I say “a lot of food” I’m talking variety, not quantity.  You see, what my friend told me is apparently true.  In fact, I learned that it’s not what you eat that contributes to a weight problem, but how much.  I knew a guy once who in our times would be considered morbidly obese (he used to just be fat) and came to work with a plan to lose weight.  He was going to eat fish.

Come lunch time, he heated up 24 breaded fish sticks and pulled out a pint of tarter sauce – and ate all of it while we watched.  But forget all that talk about dieting and stuff.  Let’s talk about food and lots of it!

Jalapeno poppers!

My bride and I ate at a restaurant in the French Quarter of Nawlin’s at a place called the Old Coffeepot.  She was openly aghast when I ordered a steaming hot plate of chicken livers, mustard, and buttery grits for breakfast.  Yea, I had eggs and a biscuit and black chicory coffee with it, but it was a memorable breakfast and delicious.  Speaking of that, name three memorable breakfasts in the next thirty seconds.  You can’t?  Try the grits and chicken livers then.

More than once I’ve heard friends object to this food or that and blatantly announce “I would never eat that!”  I always think the same thing.  “You’ve never been hungry enough.”  If you get hungry enough, you will boil leather and try to eat it.  Look in the Old Testament at what people did who were starving to see how low we can go when really hungry.

Jalapeno and cheese stuffed burger

Years ago I read a book about a married couple whose yacht sunk suddenly while out on the Pacific Ocean.  They only had time to save themselves in a canvas raft and floated for 120 plus days before being rescued.  They lived off raw fish that jumped into the raft and any tired bird that landed.  They stayed sane by planning elaborate meals for when they were rescued.  What they wouldn’t have done for a chicken fried steak, boudin, or chicken livers!

One time years ago in Thailand, I ordered pork chops at a local restaurant.  What I was served was one pork chop and one black chunk of meat with a bone through the middle.  My friends and I laughed and inquired what it was to the server.  “Poke chop!”  I sliced a piece of it and ate it and to this day, I attest I’ve tasted dog meat.  Of course I sent it back and in return got a second “poke chop”.  I imagine the people in the back got a good laugh out of it and I got a memory to recall.

Homemade oatmeal and raisin cookies!

What’s the bottom line on all of this you ask?  Don’t believe all that bunk about what you can eat and what you can’t.  Whatever the experts say today, they’ll say something else tomorrow.  Eat whatever you want, just eat in moderation.  Try something new and you might just get a meal worth repeating.

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