Food

I've been thinking a lot about food on this trip. Standing in line at Burger King in Piccadilly I observed an English lad almost come to blows with his mates for draging him into the place: 'So it's Saturday night and we're in bleedin' Burger King. It's common, it's cheap and it's nasty. This is where people come to die! I can't believe you dragged me here,' he said. I silently agreed.

My decision to go to Burger King was based on units of energy. I figured that I needed plenty of energy for my backpacking and that for my money, a large Whopper meal would give me more calories than anything else I could find in Piccadilily i.e a pure economic decision based on my limited $$. I wonder if I'd make the same choice if I was a struggling single dad living in East End London. It's easy to rationalise this if you're living in the here and now. It really is more time consuming and expensive to prepare good, healthy meals and that's not right.

I know it's natural to put on a little bit of weight each year but when I see a New Yorker no older than me who's obese I wander if their country has let them down. Free choice aside, you can't deny that bad food is ridiculously commonplace here. We really take it for granted that in Australia you can't go 5 seconds without finding some Sushi or a gluten free muffin but in the USA walking down the street is really running the gauntlet between Mc-this and Burger-that. I'll never forget the epic journey I made up into the Hollywood Hills to find a piece of fruit. Sure there's healthy food around but you've gotta search it out.

I read that Kenneth Slosser book 'Fast Food Nation' when it came out a few years ago. It's a very insightful read about the fast food industry in the states. Apparantly they're turing this non-fiction piece into a fictional movie. Should be controversial.

MG