Having now
been exposed to the diet of the vast majority of the population for several
weeks, I am dying for fresh salad, fruit, vegetables and low-fat milk for my
(espresso) coffee!
It is of
course possible to eat well - very well - in the US, but after leaving the West Coast and
venturing into the vast hinterland that is the South-West (Nevada, Arizona, New
Mexico...) I am craving a rainbow of colours on my plate. It just seems so much
more difficult to not eat badly: everywhere everything is either white-bread
-based sandwiches or deep-fried chicken and chips. It is also excessively sweet
(bread, peanut butter...).
The Mexican
food too that is such a staple is a bastardised version of what is found south
of the border - here it is all corn and wheat-based and smothered in monterey
jack cheese, with a token nod to salsas.
In New
Orleans I tried the specialities such as beignets (deep-fried pastries drowning
in icing sugar - reminiscent of Dutch ollebollen) and mufaletta (huge stuffed
bread rolls) as well as creole dishes more often than not deep-fried - all
tasty but definitely 'sometime foods'!
It was in
New Orleans too that I found the first supermarket ever where there was zero
fresh fruit and vegetables, leading to the discovery that often the healthiest
food is to be found in fastfood joints -
such as McDonald's salads.
Sitting in
the Orlando greyhound terminal waiting for my connection to Miami, I bought the
single lonely salad in the cooler and dressed it with vinaigrette before
reading the package and learning that the ingredients were primarily soybean
oil, corn syrup and artificial colouring and flavouring.
Every
person in the cafeteria was tucking into
either deep-fried southern chicken and chips or macaroni cheese, washed down
with soda. The hamburgers with their token lettuce and tomato didn't seem to be
as popular.
Of course
if you are travelling with a little more style than I am at present, and are
prepared to either spend quite a bit more or have access to a market and
kitchen, it is possible to largely avoid such a health-compromising diet. But
as a backpacker, you are limited in what you can stock in your travelling
pantry - everything must be carried, without refrigeration and mindful of space
and weight restrictions. It is too easy to get laden with extra supermarket
bags, on top of your backpack, daypack and camera bag.
I am
looking forward to what I can find in Florida and up the east coast, and
shedding the extra baggage I have personally accumulated since hitting the road
a month ago.
(c) FMPDH 2012
