Slow Drive. Fast Food.

Heading out of town for Labor Day weekend, friend and driving companion Eric and I got to chatting about food. Mouths watered discussing the best meals of our lives. Mine was wild mushroom ravioli in a light sauce with some Finger Lakes-area wine at the Esperanza Mansion in Upstate New York. His was also a stuffed pasta from a restaurant in Buenos Aires paired with wine a la South America and followed by concert by an Argentinean folk singer (who was not Jose Gonzalez) adding up to one of the best days of his life. Then NPR reported on the Slow Food festival taking place in San Francisco. Made popular by sort-of celebrity chef Alice Waters, Slow Food is a movement that could be translated to “cuisine gone green.” The organization seeks to promote local growers and farmers. So it’s all that hippy stuff about organic, hormone-free, happy cows, happy chickens, free trade, it’s something I can really get behind because the food tastes better and I would potentially be helping my neighbors do what they do, instead of helping ... nevermind, I’ll keep my politically-tinged rants out of this. All this while making the interchange from I-29 to I-70 in Kansas City, Mo. There was little chance on this or any stretch of highway of finding much more than fast food. Eric googled Whole Foods on his phone, but the closest one was in Overland Park, Kan.—shocking. There was no Trader Joe’s to think of. I called a friend from KC who didn’t answer. We passed green highway signs, posting a list of all that awaited at each exit. Uninspired and a bit hungry, I gave up and finally pulled over at the next Subway. This Subway, somewhere after the Worlds of Fun exit in KC, was barely short of pathetic. The two workers in the establishment (originally designed to house a Pizza Hut) were just sad, as were our sandwiches. But what can you expect. Realistically, fast food is so much easier and cheaper than Slow Food. Too bad Kansas City doesn’t have my fav, White Castle.