20 Yards of Weiners
I just returned to the Northwest from Stillwater, Minnesota, which is situated on the St. Croix river approximately thirty minutes from the Twin Cities. Considered “The Birthplace of Minnesota”, Stillwater, is a quintessential Midwestern town which boasts a friendly township, antique shops, a butcher, a food co-op, and an ice cream parlor mixed amongst a few trendy wine bars and bistro eateries. I was born a Buckeye and spent a few years in St. Louis and Chicago so I was full of youthful nostalgia during my short visit.
Being sober, yet still enjoying cold drinks, I wanted to load up on sparkling water so we headed out to a large grocery chain named Cub Foods (I would compare it to the Fred Meyer of the Northwest). This was a large operation that grossed 1 million dollars in sales a week (1 store). I was quite impressed to find a large gluten free and organic section, as well as many isles of international foods and products from Asian, Indian, Italian, Scandinavian typically found in speciality stores. I wandered over to the meat department and was confronted by a 20 yard refrigerated wall of hot dog varietals. I was so taken aback I took a photo (above). There was a woman restocking ‘the dogs’. I commented on the impressive selection, and she stated in the a very Midwestern accent, “ooooh yaaaaah! WE LOVE OUR WEINERS!” (there was a separate refrigerator for the bologna and sausages) Having lived on the West Coast for the past 20 years, and being a somewhat socially conscious chef and consumer, I haven’t seen these many hot dogs….ever, much less in one place. My father-in-law said there was a large hot dog selection to satisfy the people of Wisconsin, however, his fondest food memory as a child involves a hot dog.
A 'Local' Specialty
The Hot Dog restocker was proud of the weiner selection. Moreover, in her eyes, Oscar Mayer, Bob Evans, Sara Lee Foods, Perkins, etc… were local foods and eateries. Weren’t they from the Midwest? The mass agriculture of the Midwest provided generations of income for her friends and family, and was grateful to be selling the products in her place of employment. My first thought was this is fucking gross (see First Thought Wrong). My second thought was what an ignorant Hot Dog Woman, they should make every Mid-American read Omnivores Dilemma in high school. A lot of my 12-step recovery work revolves around the ‘willingness’ to accept people, places and things (PP&T), for what they are worth. Obviously, this is a life-long process…especially for my judgemental ass. The key word here is ‘willingness’. Thus, if I’m a little bit open to PP&T it allows my ego to get out of the way, and maybe….I can grow and learn in a direction that my selfish “addict brain” normally wouldn’t allow.
After I calmed down from the Hot Dog experience I began to realize that the slow-food movement has primarily been supported by upper-class consumers from urban restaurants and farmers markets. Over the past decade it has become commonplace for people to sound ‘informed’ when speaking about chefs, restaurants, and the cuisine that defines them. Presently, I have noticed those ‘informed’ or shall I say ‘affected’ people (including myself) now include the name of the farm and seemingly gloat about the sustainable practices involved in growing and harvesting the said produce and meats to the point of sounding pretentious.
Most major changes in a society come from the masses not the wealthy. So can a happy median be meet? Can the slow food movement get over themselves to better understand the needs of the Middle Americans. And can the Middle Americans be willing to change habits and industries that are the cornerstone of their history. Like most things, I believe it starts with education and social consciousness around the cycle of food from earth to table, but can that happen for a middle to low income family? Presently, it is very expensive to eat in this manner. Or will the slow food movement solely be supported by the middle-upper class, foodies, and the trendy wealthy cocktailers that only see value in sunstainable foods because it is in vogue?
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