A Quick Note About Food

Michelle and I will be celebrating 24 years of marriage on Monday. It has become our habit to hop in our little VW convertible and shun the highways and travel the lesser roads to some of Southern Ontario’s good places.

As lunch time approached we were in Stratford and there is an organic meat, cheese and bread shop there (a deli I suppose) that provides fresh healthy foods at a very high level of quality. Now our world is riddled with fast food outlets that can provide you with nourishment at a reasonable price and you can count on a consistent experience. Two adults could eat at one of these chain hamburger places for between $12 and $17 dollars. For that money you would get an edible but decidedly unhealthy and boring meal.

We walked around the shop and at the back of the store we meant the baker, a great guy who knew his bread, and was willing to discuss his process and ingredients and the experience he expected you would have if you bought his bread. We bought 3 different loaves at about $3.25 a piece (I would have paid more).

I am a big cheese fan and would eat it all the time if I could but the truth is I also enjoy being alive and huge cheese consumption does not lend itself to good health so I do not eat a lot of cheese anymore. We decided a little cheese for our lunch would be great so we purchased some apple wood smoked cheddar. Now this cheese packs a financial bite as well as a flavour bite and at $24 dollars a pound it might scare of most cheese eaters. Michelle and I bought 4 1/8 inch thick pieces and the price rolled in a $6.20 this cheese is so rich and delicious (four slices was almost too much)

We went to the cooler in the store and bought some of their fresh humus and it came in at $3.50.

Off to the park we went, moved a picnic table closer to the river and settled down to eat. We consumed the cheese, the equivalent of one loaf of bread (we sampled two of the three kinds we bought) dipping it in the humus.

The total bill at the store was $23 as I also bought some whole seed mustard. We ate our fill at lunch with 1 full loaf and 2 partial loaves of bread to take home.

So what is the point of this boring story? Well for about $16 we were able to eat very high quality fresh reasonably healthy food made by people who care about what they are doing, for the price of fast food. On the surface some of the prices in the store seem high but in moderate reasonable use you come out on top.

Fast food is obviously in the price range of the majority of Canadians, as I have heard the big chains do quite well. If fast food at $16 is in the price range then so is good food at the same price?? If we start to buy good food then more good food will appear for sale.

If you are going to tell me your kids won’t eat the food I described I would suggest to you that if you take the time to slowly move your kids from fast food and they will move, ours did.