Living in this part of the country is quite an experience. There are many aspects that continue to amuse, interest, and baffle me. For example, food. Now, I'm aware that everyone likes food. Some of it tastes good, looks pretty, and it can generally make you feel like there is a party in your stomach. There are many places around the U.S. that may not have healthy eating habits, we all know this. But here in The County, people are eating a hearty diet of meat, potatoes, and McDonalds.
Just to paint you a whole picture here, I have been vegetarian since I was in the 7th grade. Furthermore, I have been observing a vegan diet for approximately 5 months. These lifestyle changes have made me acutely aware of the dependency our culture has on meat and dairy products. Here in Littletown, people base their entire meal around meat: bacon and ham for breakfast, lunch meats for lunch, and a roast or casserole for dinner. Very rarely do those green things (normally called vegetables) make an appearance on a Northern Mainer's plate.
Like The Russians, Mainers up here enjoy a lot of potatoes with their meat. As we know, potatoes grow up here like some sort of mutant fungus. They are everywhere! So residents don't have to go far to find a good tater to sink their collective teeth into. Not that I don't enjoy the potato-- I love french fries (curly or straight, I'm very open minded), baked potatoes, hash browns, and latkes. I simply take a bit of an issue with the fact that too much meaty, starchy, fatty, greasy food might be a tad...unhealthy. For goodness sake, where is the fiber?! Yeah, you need fiber people, trust me. But I wonder about what these eating habits are teaching the kids that live here.
We all know that obesity, hypertension, and diabetes are big problems in our society. But how can we combat these issues if parents keep shoveling Hamburger Helper down their children's throats every night? Where is the nutrition?
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