Government Cheese

I have long thought that Government Cheese would be a great band name. Government Mule was used already by a very cool southern rock group that started back in the mid 1990's. I've had government cheese, though, and it is not anything like cool. Government peanut butter is similarly uncool. Which brings me to the topic of food choices.

I know I am already blessed to have access as I do to tremendous varieties of food and drink as well as the wealth to buy them. Once past that there must be a discussion of the differences between food as mass produced bio-fuel versus food as craftsmanship.

Bread....

Among the most ancient food products, bread has been made by all people around the world in some form through much of our history. The traditions have been successfully passed on without much loss of integrity in spite of all that we do that normally kills ideas-- war, migration, irresponsible agricultural techniques, cultural oppression, etc. Bread is a living connection with our past. It is tied with life itself in religion as well as mythology. And the multitude of forms and varieties it can take on makes it versatile like few other foods.

Why should I unhappily eat the mass produced bread that feeds so many today? Simply because I have known so much better stuff that is called bread. Growing up I spent many a summer in Germany with family and friends, this being where my mother is from. I would like to explain what the German bread is like, the kind that lives in the memory of my childhood, but comparing it to something we have here is pointless. It's just too different. I will always remember my mom's description of the bread she had to buy so often here; gluey-sponge-bread was the name she gave it. There is bread of fair or better quality that can be bought here, but Mom also has a financial proclivity for paying only what she thinks something should cost, even if it means the quality suffers. She would never pay the five or more dollars it costs at a modern bakery shop for a loaf of "artisan" bread. It's funny how the stuff that was the simplest peasant food in the past has now become the gourmet's treat. So she buys the gluey-sponge-bread anyway because it makes better financial sense.

Brotchen in Germany are like mini loaves of bread in the style of a French loaf, but only about the size of a potato. Their crust is crunchy and the inside is soft. I have never found these simple treasures anywhere in the US. I have looked. The closest I came was in Bobak's in Chicago, but theirs were not quite right. Something is different about the flour we have here, and this is enough to alter the final product too much. And now we find ourselves perfectly willing and happy to drive three hours to Chicago for one store's offerings. We also buy sausages and other meats there when we go because they make it "right" when no one else does. When Pope John Paul II visited America, he would stop in Chicago for the chance to eat Bobak's sausage. It reminded him of Poland. Actually, though, Bobak's has changed for the worse recently. It's quite sad for my family to know that one of the only places we knew of for good bread or meat is changing its ways to save money. The other wonderful secret in Chicago was Meyer Delicatessen in Lincoln Square. It's closed now. A truly sad situation. This was the only place you could buy real veal liverwurst, another favorite from my childhood.

I think the government cheese that my brother and I ate at times when we were kids was a real turning point with my attitude about food. He and I joked about it even then. We knew why we were getting it. Back in the 1980's, thanks to the deregulation efforts of Ronald Reagan, the trucking industry my dad worked for took a big hit. The company he had been with for twenty years was sold and shut down. Mom and Dad figured out how to supplement the pantry when money got scarce. We had a lot of fun regardless of the financial climate, and so we made jokes about the cheese or other bulk food containers that sometimes made it home. (We also received on occasion fantastic packages of venison from my grandma's freezer. Grandpa wouldn't touch the stuff. His loss was our delicious gain.) What I learned from the food was that the government was not very interested in providing great food to its people, only food good enough to pass the inspection. No awards for quality, just a blue stamp on the box.

Now when I buy groceries I usually shop like my mom does, (paying attention to sales, buying off brands, watching the receipt) but not always. I will pay more for bread that doesn't plaster the inside of my mouth. Cheese will sometimes be purchased at a premium just to make me or my wife happy, and to remind me that the waxy yellow blocks from Uncle Sam might show up again one day, so I should indulge a bit while I can.

My kids also need to know about the varieties of food in the world. They know that foods have special and interesting names, and that cheese is not just known as yellow or white. My older daughter has had brotchen and other breads in Germany, but the other two have not yet had the pleasure. They will, though. We have pictures of each of them at various ages eating toast with Nutella, their smeared faces smiling with the brown cream in their teeth. Pirate teeth we call it. Arrrr!

Food is a daily necessity, and so you can't go gourmet every day. My kids are not food snobs, but I want them to know that there is a good reason why some people are. They also will learn that every population, every culture, has its own wonderful foods that are waiting to be experienced. You may not like them all, but a few of them may stick with you for life. Part of living life means experiencing new and different things, and one of the easiest way to do this is through food.

Live well.