Double Dip & Don't Eat Alone

In a world that finds its disconnects more and more numerous, there is one thing that draws all people together. I've mentioned this before, but it doesn't hurt to reflect on it again and again, every now and then. A drive down any city street, lined wall to wall with strip malls and "hole in the walls", and one will see quick lube stations, massage parlors, paycheck cashiers, tobacco shops, gas stations, and liquor stores - all of the things a man doesn't necessarily need. But sprinkled in between each one lies some hoagie joint, a McDonalds, and maybe even a Popeye's if you're lucky. The Chinese restaurants run by Japanese, the Mexican restaurants with a rather unique American take of unauthentic Mexican food, and the obligatory cheap Thai, or Vietnamese, or Indian cuisine eatery, where curry is cooked like it going out of style, over unidentifiable proteins. Then - the local, independent burger joints, each claiming that it is the best in town, each one trying to top the other by adding a little more grease to the frying pan.

Still, who can complain? What's a good burger without four or five good grease droppings on the front of the shirt? Whatever meat that was at the Vietnamese restaurant in my "Spicy Surprise" special of the day, was pretty darn good. A cheap Chinese buffet, no matter what ethnicity cooks it, will satisfy your tummy's craving for fried shrimp, hot mustard, and sweet and sour spicy soup. You'll pay for it the next day, but... well... it's all you can eat, including fortune cookies - which all should say, "You'll pay for it the next day." Popeye's is the only place in town I know of where you can set your biscuit on your napkin, wait thirty seconds, and then pic your napkin up and look through it like a window. And McDonalds has won over the world's heart for its incredibly tasty 100% beef MSG. Whatever that is. Anyway, it tastes great, and I'll have two.

Then, dotted occasionally across the city landscape are truly authentic restaurants, where actual chefs are hired to rack their brains for something truly creative and unique to showcase for our palates. Yes, you will pay for that duck, quail, lamb or tenderloin filet, hold your breath, and hope it turns out. If not, your server should be apt to pair a good wine even with a bad dish, so not all will be lost, but a few more bucks.

With all of this good stuff everywhere, including the plastic fronts of Olive Gardens, TGIFs, Applebees, and Chili's, one might gather that food is rather important to us. Yes, we can live without the gas stations and the paycheck cashiers, but we can't live without food. We need it, and that need is shared by all of mankind. It is a need that transcends all borders, times, and palates. But there is nothing more fundamental than that food is meant to be shared. One of the other universal truths - or needs - is that we need other's company, fellowship, intimacy. And there is no better place to fulfill both needs, than at the table. The table is the sign of peace. It is the place of laughter. It is the place where you don't even have to speak the same tongue with whoever you are eating with, the food and the closeness can do the talking. Breaking bread is marrying both needs, double dipping, metaphorically, and not bound by rules of doing it literally.