Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/20996
THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET by MARGARET DICKSON On a recent channel-surfi ng expedition, I happened upon a program whose name I never heard, but on it, two men were discussing hamburgers. Arrayed before them was just about the yummiest display of burgers I have ever seen — big ones and little ones, cheesy, onion and bacon-laden ones, on soft rolls, crusty brown breads, even freshly baked New York bagels. Others had less conventional ingredients and garnishes, including exotic mushrooms, avocados, vegetables I had never heard of, and even fruits, not counting my favorite, tomatoes, which are actually a fruit, not a vegetable. All sorts of divine sounding mustards, mayonnaises, catsups made-by-hand using a sieve and other relishes were close at hand. Though I seldom eat a burger these days, I could not take my eyes off all of these dazzling examples of America’s favorite creation, but the most amazing part was this: One fellow was trying to convince the other guy that hamburgers are actually good for us. He talked about using the leanest and highest quality ground meats of all kinds, not just beef, fi ne cheeses and lots of fresh vegetable ingredients. He suggested breads from various bakeries, and imported condiments from gourmet stores. The term “organic” was used frequently. Not once did he mention a fast food purveyor nor did the words “French fry” cross his lips. My initial reaction was to rush to the swellest grocery store I could fi nd to create my own personal, perfect and perfectly healthy burger, but something was nagging at me. It turned out to be a recent article in Newsweek, regarding the growing gulf between those of us in America who value and can afford high-quality food and those of us who cannot. The cover story by Lisa Miller profi les three Brooklyn families — one of which believes in eating locally and organically grown and produced foods and does so more often than not, one which includes several diabetic family members and which scrimps and sacrifi ces to buy and prepare at home the freshest ingredients they can afford and the last which includes a single mother on a limited income and food stamps whose pantry looks like a grocery store shelf bulging with boxes of processed cereals, cookies and canned goods. That Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Saturday Thursday December 9 December 10 December 11 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Friday family, strapped for time as well as money, also gets take out several times a week. In an era when the rich are indeed getting richer and the poor getting poorer and the divide between them is getting wider, the food we eat is becoming a marker of economic status and perhaps of health itself. All of us know what pizza and burgers are, of course, and where to get them, but what percentage of us know anything about Dutch Parrano cheese or raise chickens in our backyards for their fresh, organic eggs? A growing number of so-called “foodies” know about and practice such eating behaviors, but doing so requires both the knowledge about and time to focus on food and health as well as the money to sustain these activities. The mother who raises those chickens and packs organic lunches for her children as she sips her Nicaraguan coffee does not have much in common with the single mother who earns $13 an hour and is alone each evening with her children and their homework except that they both live in Brooklyn. The fi rst is secure in the knowledge that she is doing right by herself and her family, and the other is “food insecure,” meaning that she sometimes runs out of money to buy food and that the food sometimes runs out before more money arrives. In addition, she buys food she can afford and that is easy to prepare, almost always processed in some way. Just as we all know where to get pizza and burgers, we all know they are not the best foods for our health or our weight. While rotundity in Renaissance paintings was intended to show the prosperity of the people depicted, obesity today is increasingly an economic marker. Women and children on food stamps are more likely to be overweight than those who are not, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Interestingly, nations with less income disparity than the United States also have lower obesity rates. Issues of food and health are vastly more complex than simply economic status, of course, involving geography, genetics and activity levels among many other components. Efforts are underway, though, to make fresher and healthier foods more readily available using farmers’ markets and other local resources, like co-ops. It is good news, too, that big-box retailers, including some in our own community, are now stocking more fresh, if not entirely local, food offerings at more affordable prices. As for the hamburger issue, yes, I succumbed. Several days after the “burgers are good for you” interview, one of the Precious Jewels and I visited a restaurant known for its outstanding burgers and ordered them our way. Mine was just perfect with lettuce and tomato, mustard, catsup and dill pickles spilling out. MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer I loved every crumb of it. COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com. CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday Monday December 12 December 13 THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Hamburgers As Health Food Tuesday December 14 High 50° Low 28° Partly Cloudy High 55° Low 35° Partly Cloudy WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM High 57° Low 35° Partly Cloudy Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. High 56° Low 30° Showers High 48º Low 22º Sunny High 42º Low 25 Sunny DECEMBER 8-14, 2010 UCW 5 24 24 / 7