Saturday, August 30, 2008

Quality ingredients

The nice thing about living in a small town is that you know a lot of people and can stop in unannounced to friend's houses just for the heck of it. When you do, it is important not to notice the dishes in the sink, the dust bunnies peeking out from underneath the couch, or the lack of freshly baked brownies.

So I stopped in to a friend's house the other day, and her kitchen cabinets happen to be open. There, in plain view, I noticed something that should exist in no one's cupboards: a bottle of "pancake syrup." I have deal with this friend: if I notice something amiss in her kitchen, if I detect that she is about to serve hot tea made from Lipton tea bags from water microwaved in a pyrex measuring dish, i will tell her.

So of course, out of the love I have for her, I said, "What the hell is that crap in your cupboard?" She replied, "But June, real maple syrup is $20.00 a quart! And my kids can't tell the difference!"

This begs the question: Is saving mone worth cutting corners on quality?

I think we all know the answer. Never. Not ever.

Real maple syrup bears no relation to the crappy, high fructose corn syrup imitation stuff trying to pass itself off as maple syrup.

And so it goes with all ingredients. Cheese in a can is no substitute for real parmesan. Pure olive oil is not the same as extra virgin.

Do your kids a favor: give them real food instead of imitation. Cook them fresh food instead of heating ujp frozen chicken nuggets. They will be less picky eaters and grow up to love a wide variety of real foods. They will be healthier for it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

but june, i have it on good authority you are not above serving appetizers that were frozen in a box? Thou doth stand on mighty high pedestal!
But that's why we LOVE you. And our high-fructose corn syrup.
; )

Anon-i-mussly!

The Mendon Foodie said...

But love-bug, I only serve those at the request of children headed off to boot camp, (or the suggestion of a dear friend trying to save me from a near panic attack from trying to do so much) Have you ever been served frozen tidbits at my house? No. 'nuff said.

Anonymous said...

I have it from a very reliable source that when her kids were infants and toddlers, the Mendon Foodie (aka: The whole food Nazi) used to server her babies DIET Pepsi in baby bottles. And we all know Diet rhymes with artificial.