[TAG] Work In Progress

[Mike Orr]

On 11/10/05, Kat Tanaka <kamisono at sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 09, 2005 at 02:41:10AM -0800, Mike Orr wrote:
> > Breakfast was eggs, ham/bacon/sausage, a biscuit with gravy, a plain
> > biscuit, and hash browns/tater tots.  Half the meal was grains or
> > potatoes.  I was almost desperate for fiber -- an apple or banana,
> > please! -- but the closest was orange juice.  Dinner was heavy on
> > steak and ribs.  This is cowboy country, and there were plenty of
> > cowboy hats.  I could barely remember from childhood that this was
> > what all American food was like before the ethnic restaurants took
> > over.
>
> Er...surely when thee and me were little, if you were on the West Coast
> like I was, you remember hippie-leftover cafes?

I remember one cafe in the 80s that had the lovely name Morningtown. 
It was vegetarian and run by a collective.  That's the hippiest cafe I
saw until the Gravity Bar in the 90s, which served gross wheat grass,
barley, and carrot drinks, and any other vegetable or grain they could
put in a blender.  In the 60s I remember McDonald's, but I was just a
wee'un then.  What kind of cafes are you talking about?

Gravity Bar
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/eats/gravity.htm
(It doesn't exist anymore.)
I couldn't find a picture of the ultramodern decor (a loss to
history), but it was in the silver metal style like the top of the
kitchen picture.  The silver metal tables were small, high, and round,
and the diagonal legs came down to a point.

Growing up, food was like the Oklahoma meals minus the gravy and ribs,
and with less emphasis on grains.  I'd totally forgotten about that. 
I remember several months ago pondering what was American food and
then thinking, "*Is* there any American food?"  It took a while to
remember: "Burgers and pizza, of course!"  But now when my office
pools for takeout lunch, it's "Teriyaki, Thai, or Chinese?"  At home
it's a plain chicken, plain fish, or pho.  Breakfast is eggs and
toast, or cereal.  Though I *do* have pizza once or twice a week, like
any red-blooded American. :)

(Thomas: that's bloodED, not bloodY.)

--
Mike Orr <sluggoster at gmail.com> or <mso at oz.net>