seventeen

there are a few things in life that i really love
that, no matter what, i'll never not enjoy
one of them is food
truthfully, i think first among them is food
few things on this planet are as gratifying as food
it's provides multiple purposes, it's a staple of culture
it can help bring people together,
but, most importantly, it's fucking delicious

food is part of the reason i look forward to coming home during school
i know plenty of people who don't, for a variety of reasons
but i do, and no small part of that is my parents' cooking
they really make an effort to make good food, and always have
even when we were completely broke,
and living paycheck to paycheck to send me to school
my parents would always make something good to eat

the reason i'm bringing this up, surprise surprise,
is to complain about mt morris/genesee county/michigan [so novel, yeah?]
one of the great things about new london was the variety of restaurants
virtually every ethnicity of food could be found somewhere
and grocery stores would actually carry quality ingredients
even if you were looking for some plain, normal 'american' food
there were handfuls of restaurants that always had great selections
you can't find that here at all
there's almost no variety in any places to eat around here
most of them fall into crappy-quality 'family-owned' restaurants
[billy's, baldwin's, gillie's, la villa's, places like that]
most of them actually make me prefer fast food
which is just sad on so many levels

one of the nice things about e/l is the variety of food
thanks to the diverse group of people in and around lansing,
there's a wider variety of places to eat, from mexican to sushi
most of these places offer good quality, [relatively] inexpensive meals
i think the types of food available really reflects on the community
places like here, there's really nothing good;
it's all the same, and it's almost always shitty
certainly sounds a lot like flint, huh?
there is one restaurant in this area i do like,
and it just opened up this past summer
[for those of you who care, it's called 'el adobe',
and it's where the old dips 'n dogs used to be]

i'm not sure i'd be able to live in a place like michigan again
if for no other reason than the food thing
it gets too frustrating that i can't really go anywhere good
this is the only place i've ever lived where i can say this:
the fast food and chain restaurants are the better option
how fucking pathetic is that?
come on michigan, get it together
quit it with the fucking coney–dogs, olive sauce, and blueberries
bring me something new, i'm begging you
i don't wanna live off ramen and subway forever


as an aside to this,
i tend to judge people by what they eat when i'm around
it's part of the reason i like grabbing food with people
what [and how] people eat says a lot about them
which is why i try to get food with people i know
let's me know how well we'll get along