Michael Pollan is a God

With Michael Pollan, who's totally ignoring me.

No, he's not actually ignoring me. I mainly just photobombed him after he signed a copy of my book and while he was conversing with someone else. Yes, I was that person. No, I am not proud.

But I won't lie- I was SO super-psyched to see him in person. The BF and I bought tickets to his event/book tour/speaking engagement at Elmhurst College months ago. Michael Pollan is a huge influence on the Au Naturale conversion-- watching "Food Inc." was the tipping point and I've devoured pretty much all of his books-- so the opportunity to see him in person was just too much to pass up. It was a great event: he is a wonderful public speaker, and although a lot of the event was to promote his newest book, 'Cooked', I hung on to his every word and even learned some new and interesting tidbits. That ticket was $15 well spent.

At the end of the event, they opened up for some Q&A and I just couldn't resist. I thought of all that I had learned on this journey, all I still wanted to learn, and what kind of things I wanted to know about him if I ever got the chance to ask. When it was my turn to step up to the microphone, I decided to go with a problem that has plagued me since the beginning. One my loyal readers know about far too well.

After first telling him that he's been an influence on me and how I try to eat Au Naturale as often as I can, I explained that up until recently I worked at a job that involved lots of business travel to places where the nearest restaurant in a gazillion mile radius was McDonald's, making an Au Naturale diet virtually impossible. "As someone who also travels a lot, with your book tour and speaking engagements and whatnot," I opined, "I'm curious to know how you handle that challenge?"

Michael Pollan nodded enthusiastically. "That's a great question," he responded.

I beamed.

He then went on to explain that it was a struggle for him, too. He thinks airports are the worst. His safe bet is to eat vegetarian if he's on the road. However, he's encouraged by the number of small, fast food-like local and organic restaurants that are popping up everywhere, making it easier for those of us who need the fast food but don't want to eat... well, traditional fast food.

Nothing ground-breaking, but it was great to hear his take on it and reassuring that even he finds it as much of a challenge as I do. I was glad I asked the question, because although the actual travel part is no longer applicable to my life, the challenges of eating irregularly will soon be back.

"Wait, back up," you're thinking. "You're not traveling anymore?"

No, loyal readers, I am not. In the past few posts I've made vague references to Big Life Things and now it's time to reveal them! Not only do I have a new job (why I'm not traveling anymore) but in a few months I will be leaving the Real World to go back to school for a masters degree. Whoo hoo! I've been vague about it because I was terrified that I might not get into any program at all and then I'd be writing with my tail between my legs. But after over a year of taking standardized tests, writing more drafts of more essays than I can count, then struggling with the choice of where to go when I was fortunate enough to get accepted to multiple programs, it is over. For a few brief months, I can go back to a normal life. (By the way, the essay writing is why I was ignoring the blog: 1 free hour to write a blog post = 1 free hour to work on the essays some more. As much as I love to write, it was hell.)

The normal life, aka 9-to-5, evenings free, weekends free, will be short-lived, which is why my question to Michael still seemed relevant. My MBA program will be an super-intensive two years. Beyond classes, I will have group meetings, presentations, professional club events, case competitions, career treks, international travel and more. All these things will stretch into late nights, weekends, lunches, and beyond. 9-to-5 will seem like a dream.  I see lots of pizza and beer in my future (apparently MBA-ers like to drink. A lot.) I will be on a very restricted budget. I will most likely be living in the school cafeteria or subject to events that lure you with promises of food (because masters students, just like undergrads, love events with free food).

All of this will take a toll on the Au Naturale lifestyle. Back when I was doing business travel to college campuses, a lot of my clients were food service providers so I got a good inside look into the modern college cafeteria. It's changed a lot since my undergrad days, in a good way. A lot more fresh cooking, efforts to source locally, healthier fare. But it's still out of my control, and even when I'm eating at home I know I will be too rushed and too tired to often want to put a lot of effort into my cooking.

I'm going to try not to sweat it. I think the slow cooker will come out often, and I hope that the BF and I will be on the ball with canning and freezing some awesome produce at the start of the summer so we have staples at the ready when we need it. Who knows, perhaps things won't be as crazy as I'm making them out to be. From what I've heard, though.... well, we'll see. But it will be an adventure, and with any good adventure, I look forward to experiencing the ride and seeing where it ends up.

Where is the Au Naturale Drive-Thru??

There is a post I wrote sometime in the past that I desire to link to, but am too lazy right now to dig around and find. It's about expanding waist lines, the ever-present Health Thing, and the fact that eating too much Au Naturale food is still eating too much food. Perhaps you can go look for it on your own? (Tee hee. See what I did there?)

In any case, I was reminded of this post the other day- most days, lately- when I put on a pair of my more forgiving work slacks and had a muffin top the likes of which you only see in a Panera bakery counter. Blech.

(Wait- didn't I use that terrible analogy in a previous post, too? Someone look it up and let me know.)

This recent health decline is, without a doubt, due to the stresses of the Big Life Things that I mentioned 2 posts ago. During the height of it I didn't have much time to cook, when I did it was nothing really remarkable, and I dealt with the stress by eating and drinking way too much. I've never been much of an exerciser- more like a reluctant exerciser- but I've also been moving around a lot less than I normally do. If I wore a pedometer, it would be seeking counseling for neglect.

Granted, I could go out and buy those organic frozen dinners, but there's a lot of evidence that pre-packaged organic is getting less and less so, and it's a drain on the wallet. And it's a frozen dinner. Meh.
It also wasn't very motivating when we had all kinds of CSA deliciousness that should have been used before we could justify going out and buying completely different food. But, as sad as I am that the Farm Box season is over, I'm slightly relieved that I can go out and buy some staples to make easy dinners instead of having to figure out how to use what was given to me.

Sometimes I wish there was an Au Naturale version of McDonald's, complete with a drive-thru for seasonal ingredients, pasture-raised burgers and chicken sandwiches, quinoa parfaits, etc. Wouldn't that be awesome? Perhaps there's a business idea in there. In fact, I once sat on a panel at a college where students were giving presentations for charitable ideas/clubs for which they wanted start-up funding. One girl had just that idea. Unfortunately, it wasn't developed at all and she had really very little clue of what it takes to run a restaurant, or how to make money selling premium organic meals at a discount, but she had the right idea for the right reasons. In any case, I appreciated her vision then. And certainly now.