Food for the Soul

If I needed encouragement for changing my diet, all it took was seeing all those rats running around in a downtown Taco Bell/KFC restaurant in New York City’s Greenwich Village like the Mouse King leading his mice into battle in an after-hours romp in The Nutcracker. There were rats here, there and everywhere from the kitchen to the counter to…. Oh, you don’t want to know!

Well, if you do, check out: http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=64901

Watch what you eat, but also watch where you eat. If I go into a restaurant restroom and see signs reminding employees to wash their hands and then notice that the only water coming out of the tap at the sink is cold, I know that there’s a problem. Employees who handle food are supposed to wash their hands in very warm water, lathering up to their elbows, for at least 30 seconds. You cannot do that if the only water available is cold. MAKE SOME NOISE. COMPLAIN! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!

You need to be aware of how long food has been sitting around waiting for you to come order it; don’t put it past cost-cutting managers to trot out the stuff they didn’t sell the day before or the day before that – and probably didn’t even store properly.

I love food. That’s why, most of the time, I’d rather cook it myself. I wash my hands so much and go through so many paper towels to dry my hands and wipe down counters that I sometimes look like a prune in winter.

Down home now – in Georgia – and even at friends’ gatherings here in New York, it’s hard to find food someone you actually know is responsible for preparing.

Whether it’s rats roaming around the premises along with the cockroaches, kitchen help that may or may not sanitize all utensils and dishes in preparation for the day’s shifts, insolent waiters spitting in the food of customers they disdain or the salt content of the food itself – you’ve got to be on guard.

I think I’ve just talked myself into preparing a nice Sunday dinner! And for extra inspiration, I'm going to tune in to one of my favorite shows, Soul Food, the family drama now in syndication on BET-J. Check it out.