Photograph by Carl Fleischauer, 1980, for series "Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada.
I’ve got food on the brain lately. In part, it’s because I’ve been trying to get more variety and more vegetables into my son’s diet. Even if that weren’t the case, I would still be thinking about it. January is the month when we say: holy crap, what am I eating. That is tradition, but – unless you’re speaking to your spouse, child, or aging parent – do we really need to say: holy crap, what are you eating? Are we on payroll? If not, it’s possible we should remind ourselves to shut the eff up. Look, I include myself in the group so tempted to tell those we love to take the unhealthy foods out of their diets. Unfortunately, we’ve got big stones, and we forget we’re throwing them around in glass houses.
The photographs by Carl Fleischauer were shot in Nevada, but they ring so true to my Delaware upbringing. I even recognize the green floral pattern on the Corelle plate. Look up at the side of the cabinet by the window. Oh, Martha Stewart is so missing the decorative cutting board article in her magazine. Don’t you sort of expect E.T. to waddle into the kitchen and get a beer out of the fridge? The lady has the mom shag popular with many moms of that era. The cereal is probably the distant cousin of Corn Pops, Sugar Pops. Ah, the good life. If someone questioned what that woman fed her kids, I bet she’d whip the shit out of the know-it-all with a radio antennae.
Now, everyone is all disjointed about Paula Deen saying she has diabetes and adding that she’s always stressed moderation. Add in that she is going to endorse a medication for diabetics, and people are forming angry mobs with pitch forks. Well, as my husband pointed out, it’s the talking heads that are having their way with her. As far as I’m concerned they are making really stupid arguments against her and other people who dare do as they damn well please with regard to their diets. On the Today Show, Nancy Snyderman said that it was horrible that Paula held back her diabetic condition for three years and then comes out to endorse a drug, as well as maintain that she has always stressed moderation. Guess what, Nancy, your high horse doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
For one thing, Paula can keep her health information to herself as long as she wants. Second, her show is not some bait and switch. You know the kind of food she’s making when you turn it on. If you’re surprised by the fat and sugar – when you read the recipe to make it – don’t make it! We have brains, and she is not responsible for our self-control. Is she a bad influence? There again, we are not mindless. Finally, her decision to endorse the drug is her decision. Do people come and tell you the moral conditions associated with a new income stream? No. Furthering my rant was the next part of the segment where she was asked whether Chris Christie’s weight would hurt him on the Presidential ticket. Her answer: at his weight he wouldn’t be allowed in the US Army, so how could he be Commander-in-Chief? I didn’t realize that we asked that of our elected officials. She added it’s not the time to elect the likes of Taft. Guess the guys better quit the debating and start prepping for basic training, either that or Wipe Out.
