Yesterday afternoon, we pulled into a rest stop in central Massachusetts and were greeted by a Ronald McDonald flanked by American flags.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to look down my nose at this unintentional commentary on the state of America. The fact is that our car contained a rather impressive collection of highly processed “foods” – all of which we’d been happily ingesting for the past few hours. The rest of the way home I started to seriously wonder why we do this.
My family has developed an unwritten rule as of late that when we go for long trips in the car, the junk food flood gates are happily opened. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this family tradition has kicked into high gear since our diet has improved at home. Mom and Dad love the chance to revisit the unbridled days of high sugar, high fat, and high salt. And of course the kids are more than happy to join us.
I guess this would be fine if I didn’t already have school lunch, birthdays, kids’ menus at restaurants, holidays, and all the other “treats” that my family is bombarded with to take into account. More importantly, I worry about the binge mentality that we are modeling for our children. And while it tastes good at first, this stuff is really gross and deeply unsatisfying.
Obviously, we’ll need to cut back on the next trip. I could even devote hours to making fantastic yet healthy treats that rival store-bought snacks. But I doubt I will. This “food” is a part of the world we live in and in small amounts is no big deal.
The real problem is being forced to acknowledge how fragile the healthy food environment I’m trying to build at home is. Are we ever going to be able to coexist peacefully with junk food when we move outside of our little bubble? Are we ever going to be disciplined enough to sample unhealthy foods moderately?
Better yet, could there ever be a day when we pull into a rest stop and be greeted by a parade of dancing fruits and vegetables? That’s something I’d be more than happy to mount our flag next to.
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1:41 pm on May 10th, 2010
I’m a new subscriber to your blog – found you via Tastespotting. I had to comment on this post because my husband and I have this conversation all the time. When we get in the car to go somewhere it’s as if all we want to eat is junk: KFC and pork rines (not me – him). We call it the road food phenomenon.
6:32 pm on May 10th, 2010
We just went through this on a long weekend road trip. We did an OK job with in-car munchies — mostly whole wheat muffins, dried fruit, snap peas, and clementines — but eating out for several days was tough. It was encouraging, though, that once we returned home everyone *including the kids* was happy to get some more nutritious, substantive food. I’m trying to make my peace with it: I’m OK with treats and special occasion foods, so long as we don’t try to make every day a special occasion.
We’re trying to make reasonable compromises with the world we live in: We eat out less, but we make pizza more at home. My son likes the useless food offered in the school cafeteria, and I let him buy two days a week. So long as he’s eating the brown bag lunches too, I’m OK. We get Happy Meals, but the kids split a serving of fries and a serving of apples, sans caramel (they used to complain, but now the apples usually disappear first!). Too much deprivation can make forbidden food more alluring.
8:14 pm on May 10th, 2010
I so need to chill out. I think my children are doomed to have a screwed up relationship with food. I’m so overthinking and over controling. I need to drink more wine or something.
11:17 pm on May 10th, 2010
We struggle with the same issues. Road trips are not too bad, though the kids KNOW that it’s the one time that we will actually succumb to McDonalds. (They don’t even like the food! But they’re dying to eat there, and they swear up and down that they like the food…even as it sits only half – if that – eaten.) On road trips, I at least have the space to pack some homemade goodies and fresh stuff. But flying…all bets are off.
Anyway, I feel your pain. And, FWIW, since the comments have delved into how we’re affecting our kids relationship with food. I tend to take the approach that they’re getting plenty of processed junk out of the house, and I’m just not going to worry about that. I can be chill about what other people are serving my kids out of the house. My goal is to give them good, healthy, and at least mostly real food, and to give them a context for why I serve that food. They’ll never learn to like it if they don’t get the chance!
Now…go have a BIG glass of wine! ;-)
3:34 am on May 11th, 2010
You know, this reminds me of something from my childhood. When I was 8 my mom, my two sisters and I went on a road trip with my grandparents from California to the midwest where my mom’s grandparents lived. This was pretty much the only road trip we took that was much further than San Diego when I was growing up but my grandparents took my mom and her siblings every summer.
What my grandparents brought for snacks was fruit loops. I did not understand why because none of us liked fruit loops. My favorite cereal was corn flakes. I kept asking my mom why they got us fruit loops, since we didn’t like them.
I’ve since come to understand that when my mom was growing up, the summer road trip was when the kids would get to have the sugary cereals as a treat. Somehow that translated to fruit loops being the treat they chose for us.
8:41 pm on May 18th, 2010
I think part of the reason that I want to pack all of that stuff in the car is that it is part of *my* memories of road trips. Fast food. Snacks and treats that we didn’t always have around.
I am struggling with the same idea that you are…I don’t want to be too controlling, yet at the same time I know that I need to do something different than what I was doing. Hmmm…maybe wine is what I need too :)
8:57 pm on May 18th, 2010
Yeah Kathleen, the more I think about it, the more Darienne and Cathy are on to something. Do the best you can with food at home. Chill out otherwise. Changing your family’s diet reminds me of becoming a parent. It messes with your entire world view on a deep level. It’s a lot of work. But things get better and sometimes make sense.