Food Inc.

I finally got around to watching Food Inc. No big surprises, having heard many an interview with Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto). Still, it's always good to be reminded of the "highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA." Seriously. It's easy to mock the "locavore" movement and pretend that "agroindustry" operations resemble traditional farms with pasture that just goes on and on. It's actually more like a cleaner, more efficient but no less terrifying reprise of the nightmarish, mass-production food factories in Sinclair's The Jungle.

Fortunately, my sister-in-law, Marni, cooked only veggies for us while we watched the documentary. Her gingered and curried lentils include lots of baby spinach, canned tomatoes and chopped celery.

Contrasts in Connecticut

The brunch menu at O'Rourke's Diner, in Middletown, Conn. (728 Main St.), is exhaustively extensive. Just contemplating the specials must give nervous breakdowns to hung over Wesleyan students on Sunday mornings.

Meeting up with our cousins there last weekend, Keryn and I explored the extremes, though we did not sample everything in between. (I liken the strategy to the Simpsons montage that shows Patty spreading a rumor around Springfield by calling "A. Aaronson" and later "Mr. Zykowski." "There," she says, looking spent, "Aaronson and Zykowski are the two biggest gossips in town.") I, not surprisingly, opted to sample as many of the absurdly long list of meats available, ordering "The Irish Embassy," with corned beef hash and bacon (I substituted Irish bangers), alongside home fries, a poached egg and Irish "brown bread."


Keryn had the yogurt, with granola and fresh fruit.


Everyone munched on the incredibly moist and mind numbingly flavorful pistachio bread and lemon poppy seed pound cake, both complimentary.