I was looking for a can of pink salmon in the cupboard. It took a few minutes of moving unwanted items out of the way before I came to the can of salmon I was looking for. A light bulb went on in my head. There are 2 kinds of food in my cupboard and maybe in yours. The “Food You Eat” and the “Food You Don’t Eat”.
Our cupboard is full to overflowing, but few of the items fit into the “Food You Eat” category. For me, this would be sardines, salsa, pickles, coffee and canned salmon. The majority of the items that fill up our cupboard fit into the “Food You Don’t Eat” category. Examples of this are tomato soup, artichoke hearts, sauerkraut, cream of mushroom soup and seaweed snack. When I track down the history of how items like this got into our cupboard I find that at one time there was a need for them, but the need disappeared and the items remained. Other items came as gifts of items we didn’t need, but did refuse.
The same principle applies to the salad dressing shelf in the refrigerator. I don’t use salad dressing. By putting pickles in my salad I am getting cucumbers and salad dressing all in one (also a lot of salt). So why are there nine different kinds of salad dressing in our refrigerator? This is a battle I have chosen to not fight. At least we will impress any guest with our array of salad condiments.
My guess is that the reality of cupboards being filled with 2 kinds of food runs across the country and cuts across the socio-economic spectrum. Let me know if it rings true at your house. One disclaimer: The chairman of the board has not given her approval of this article.
Are you wondering what to do with “Food You Don’t Eat”? Occasionally I think about what life will be like when civilization as we know it collapses. We expect to get by the first couple of months on the “Food You Don’t Eat.” By that time artichoke hearts in tomato soup will look pretty good. After that we will break out the salad dressing.
Adventures in Suburbia 