To say that food is a passion in our household is an understatement. But I’m only the sous-chef and busboy. I can’t take credit for how well we eat. Nor do I take a lot of pride in what I eat for lunch. It’s the same thing every day. I’ll cop to what it is after Ezra Klein’s confession:
I never bring my own lunch. For every five days I spend at work, I purchase five prepared meals from a nearby restaurant. It’s not that I don’t know how to cook, or that I don’t like to cook. Cooking is arguably my only real hobby. It’s that I like to eat lunch out. It breaks up my day. It’s time to read a magazine, interview a source, see a friend. It’s 30 minutes of pleasure and a guaranteed change of scene whenever I decide I need it.
I don’t bring my own lunch either. Each Monday I buy five bananas at the grocery store near my office. As needed, I also restock peanut butter, carrots, cheese sticks, Wasa crackers (sesame flavor), and humus (plus sugar and milk for my tea, about which I wrote here). My lunch is a banana with peanut butter. My snack, when needed, is a cheese stick and/or carrot and/or Wasa cracker with humus.
That’s it. Day in, day out, I eat the same stuff at work. I eat it at my desk, in front of my computer. I like it that way. (I used to put my banana and peanut butter between bread. I ditched the bread a few months ago. Not necessary. I really just want to eat peanut butter.)
From this, you would not believe how balanced and healthy the rest of my diet is. Tonight is typical. We’re having chicken soup with very little chicken, a lot of kale, beans, carrots, and brown rice. It’s very tasty and my kids love it.
