Milwaukee Road Trip

Did I ever tell you about my Milwaukee road trip?  I didn't?  Well, gather 'round, loyal 3 or 4 readers, because I have a somewhat successful, somewhat convoluted tale of travel eating to share.

Really, it's not terribly exciting, but i think it's worth a mention.  Two weeks ago I had to take a quick business trip up to Milwaukee to visit some schools.  Because of Milwaukee's close proximity to Chicago, this trip was a quick up-and-back in the span of a day.

And this time, I vowed to be prepared!  Not needing to rush out the door to catch a flight, I made myself a decent meal of Tempel Farms Organic eggs on homemade toast, a cappuccino made with local milk, and a banana.  I loaded up a mini-cooler with a few reusable ice packs and threw in some organic yogurt, and then packed one more separate bag with an apple and a little tupperware container of locally-made granola.

It's a good thing I was prepared, because like all of my other business trips I was rushing from meeting to meeting without a break for lunch and in this case, dinner.  See, in addition to my regular meetings I had volunteered to sit on an evening panel for students who were presenting new community service ideas for the opportunity to receive a grant for start-up funds to launch their venture.  By the time the panel was over at after 8pm, I had consumed only all of my previously mentioned pre-planned snacks as well as a Cliff Bar that one of the other panelists had graciously passed out to the dinner-eschewing group.  I should be thankful that it was a Cliff Bar and not a twinkie, though, I guess.  So I'm left feeling conflicted:  on one side, I'm proud that I adhered to the Au Naturale diet on the road for the first time, well, ever.  However, how nutritious was my total food intake?  I'm sure a nutritionist would probably shrug and say "Meh".  At least it wasn't the McDonald's drive-through.

I think that it is worth mentioning that one of the students presenting to the panel was a young lady who had a brilliant idea of an organic fast food restaurant.  She spoke of her own healthy eating habits and upbringing, and wanted to create an outlet where people didn't have to commit to a sit-down meal in order to eat organic and local with foods that catered to their specific dietary requirements, whether they be vegan (as she was), celiac-concious, or more.  When it came time for the panelists' questions, I raised my hand, briefly mentioned my Au Naturale diet, and (somewhat) jokingly asked that as I was one of those people who could really use an organic fast food restaurant while I was on the road, when would her first outlet be open?  Truthfully, the idea has a lot of passion but needs much more refining before it will come to fruition.  I was still excited to see, though, that this movement proves to be evident in more and more places, such as an urban college campus in Milwaukee.