Artificially fake

Photo: Samantha

I've been enamoured lately by artificial food. Well, it's not really food. It's colours and sugar and salt and chemicals. I was always in the "make it yourself" camp. If I wanted a cookie I would whip up a batch. Have some browned and smooshy bananas? Banana bread! Craving pizza? In about an hour I could make a pie or two, crust and all, from scratch. Lately, however, I don't know what it is...maybe I'm too busy, or lazy, or disinterested. Whatever it is, I'm just not into making food this week. Now I know from documentation my food experiments and moods here that I tend to go in and out of food-loving phases. So in all likelihood this is just one of those low-production troughs. So don't panic.

I just am getting tired of the hoop-la. It's lovely every now and then to embark on a culinary adventure, experiment with new ingredients, and attempt to prepare something new and exciting. And it's downright euphoric to present dinner guests with a homemade meal for which they rave and sing your praises. It's just that lately I'm more in a me-mode. The other week I made mac and cheese. Like Kraft Dinner from a box. And I have been going through poached eggs and toast like they're going out of style. I went out this weekend to a restaurant and ordered a hamburger and fries for christsakes. I'm craving the simple things. Low production value. High comfort quality.

I recently read an article about a columnist who tried to make Turkish delight and failed miserablyy. I can relate. It is discouraging to have something you put time and effort into come out horribly wrong. Maybe that's my problem. With everything else going on in my life it's difficult to put the time into something that threatens to be a disaster. It's depressing. Then again maybe I'm a little manic-depressive in the food department.

I found a book this weekend I'd been searching after for a while. The Year of Eating Dangerously might just be the thing to inspire me to get back in there and try something new. In it, author Tom Parker Bowles (I know, great name right?) attempts to reach new heights of food consumption without a gastronomical safety net. He tries so-called dangerous food from different cultures around the world. At the very least I hope reading it will inspire me to ward off the temptation to buy frozen TV dinners for a while.

In the meantime, I plan on cozying up with my book, some Tootsie Pops, Doritos and Diet Coke to enjoy a good read. So what if I'm living on non-food items lately. I know soon my inspiration will return (it always does) so I might as well enjoy the chemicals while I still can. Inspiration is just a moment away after all.