A SpokenFood Commentary
Okay, some of these “National Food Days” are harmless fun — a nod to culinary craft, a tip of the glass to wine or champagne, a celebration of the humble meat loaf or the noble French fry or an honoring the national fruit of America: the apple. We go through our culinary calendar each year and it is nice to pause and think about the foods we eat and on a special day, remember them and reflect on their sacred, memorable places – a true thing to be cherished.
But National Greasy Foods Day? Please. That’s not food culture; that’s wiping your hands on the ground because there’s no napkins. It’s a marketing burp borne from Madison Ave-mentality and all dressed up as Americana and we’re skipping this party.
We’ll gladly raise a glass to heritage cooking, we will join forks in the heaping of praise to noble recipes born of soul and survival — but this one? It’s the cholesterol-coated participation trophy of the food calendar, dreamed up in a bored marketer’s cubicle (or at a basement desk in their parents’ home while sucking down a Hot Pocket at 3AM because they have a deadline and there was this Game of Thrones binge) ……Besides, aren’t there enough morbidly obese people in this country? Do we really need to celebrate such a day (and phrase it in this manner…’greasy’)?
Let the drive-thrus celebrate today. Fine for them. As for the remark on obesity, some people are just going to eat and eat and eat and eat, no matter what the day and no matter how many lives it affects – “but I was hungry!” – and we’ll leave it at that.
Until next time…No National Greasy Foods Day here.