Airport Eating and the American Diet

Last night I stayed up late, later than I have in many months, finishing up a paper for the annual conference of the Society of Biblical Literature, underway this weekend and Monday and Tuesday, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

After spending less than three hours in bed — not all of them asleep, unfortunately — I got up at 5:20 am this morning, made coffee, showered, and headed off to the airport at 6:05 am without eating anything. That was my first mistake of the day… if you don’t count getting up at 5:20 after only three hours of sleep.

Airports and travel in American cities present real problems for people who attempt to follow a Zone or a Paleo-Zone dietary path. Once I got on the other side of the security checkpoint Asheville Airport I was really hoping I could find a boiled egg at the coffee stand. Nothing doing. The only things they had that didn’t offer some combination of starch, manufactured food products and artificial ingredients, sugar, or dairy were bananas and apples. I found a small apple and bought it. Protein would have to wait.

Looking around at my fellow travellers, I was reminded of the ravages caused by the American diet. Some of them were eating the industrially produced, then frozen, then defrosted and microwaved Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, or munching on potato chips or perhaps eating “the healthy choice,” sugary sweetened fruit yogurt. But even the ones who were smart enough to avoid the “foods” served at this little stand, most showed all the clear signs of metabolic derangement. A year ago I looked just like them, more or less. Usually less.

When I arrived in Charlotte, things had gone from bad to worse. What are your food choices in an airport? Cinnabon. Sbarro. Burger King. Etc. Everywhere you look the food is highly processed; protein is served only in the context of a starch wrapper, and sugar and processed starches form the basis of almost every food choice. At the newsstands they sell “snacks”: mostly chips of fried corn flour or potato slices, various candies, and bready cakes. Even in the case of the one type of snack item that has any appreciable protein, namely beef jerky, the type that is sold in American gas stations and air ports has almost a 1:1 ratio of CHO:PRO. I kept looking for that inviting bowl of boiled eggs. Nothing doing.

Eventually at the Chili’s “to Go” window, I realized I might have located a solution to my problem. Chili’s is the same as anywhere else. For instance, their $7.99 breakfast deal bundles 2 eggs with potatoes and bread. At the counter they had almost nothing that wasn’t a straight up carbohydrate source. They had mixed fruit and fruit thank God… at least that’s Paleo… but also sweet yogurt with fruit, little boxes of breakfast cereals, various fruit juices, bags of potato and corn chips, etc. I bought an orange, and I asked the woman behind the counter whether they could just sell me two scrambled eggs as a side order. They woman said yes! I waited a long time, and the eggs arrived in a ridiculous set of environmentally unfriendly packaging. They were served on a paper sheet, in a styrofoam box, in a plastic bag, with paper napkins and plastic utensils in a plastic bag.

I ate the eggs — they were horrible by the way, being an insipid pale yellow color and utterly without flavor or texture for some reason; I am not even sure they were real eggs — and I thought about how most Americans probably never question the classic combinations of items that make up their meals? They order breakfast and eat what is served, whether or not they need the “nutrients” provided by their “food.” How did eggs and bacon combined with starches become the only proper “breakfast”? What’s wrong with a single piece of fruit with your two eggs? Why is everything wrapped or coated in wheat flour products like tortillas and bread? Why don’t food vendors offer more items in an unadorned and simple a la carte fashion. I ought to be able to go up to a food stand, and say: I’d like 2 eggs, 2 oz. of ham, and a 2 cup bowl of sliced bananas please. Or a cup of oatmeal. Then charge me by the ounce or cup. Whatever.

Maybe this is why Americans are unhealthy and metabolically deranged. So many of us, on a daily basis, depend for our nourishment on these cookie cutter chains, that sell us one size fits all predetermined quantities and combinations of food. The combinations offered, the “menus” of such “eateries,” I would add, are entirely products of a broken food culture. They are certainly not based on gastronomical insight or nutritional science. Because of this commercialized industry of “food” provision, Americans have become incapable of feeding themselves properly. They are unable to discern when they are eating quantities or qualities of food that inappropriate to their caloric or metabolic needs.

Imagine a restaurant that, instead of offering a bunch of “meal deals” that have been put together by marketing staffs and industrial “chefs,” offered a simple six column menu, with a price per quanitity for each column. Protein sources, sold by the unit or ounce. Vegetables, sold by the cup, prepared in various ways. Fruits, sold by the piece, or sliced in a cup. Fats, mainly in the form of butters, nuts, oils, and sauces, sold by the tablespoon. Starches, sold by the ounce or the 1/4 cup serving. Whatever you need at the moment, put together your meal from the menu; have it on a plate, or a bowl.