# 10 – A Meal about America

During our last day of the trip, we ate at this purely vegan restaurant for lunch in St. Augustine. Besides being overpriced, the space of the restaurant catered to every Bourgeois Bohemian bone in my body. The outside was decorated in lush greens and blues, almost a watercolor of those purity tones on the walls, complete with quotes of preservation and loving the earth. The table was laden with pure rock salt straight from Tibet. The water jug was brought to our table sitting on top of an “ionizing” pad that was supposed to infuse the drink with all these body-cleansing elements. The menu was covered with artsy descriptions of organic foods from all over the world, from the purifying vinaigrette salad dressing to nine-bean fair trade burgers, which is exactly what I went with.

Many people ordered six-dollar strawberry smoothies with protein and energy boosts. I started off with the water and moved into my salad of lettuce, corn, tomatoes, and carrots and that vinaigrette dressing. I also moved into the nine-bean burger with more lettuce and tomatoes, bringing my tab to over fifteen dollars.

This represents a couple things about our culture. While all this food is great for your body, I noticed that the only people in the restaurant were white, upper-middle class artsy types with REI rain jackets and the works. It was somewhat tasty in my opinion, but I was also hungry again two hours later. What this meal seems to show is that whole bread argument from the film “People Like Us,” where your class positioning affects nearly everything you do, from the food you eat to car you drive to your ethos and perspectives on life. The difficult thing a lot of the time is for the people involved in these more expensive food movements to understand that every one cannot afford the way they are eating, whether or not it is better for your body. Thus, in parts of the Bronx, there are twenty liquor stores to every grocery store, and that grocery store will most likely have none, if any, organic food, or even real wheat bread. In our culture of consumption, we are relegated to our certain spaces because of our income, certain restaurants, certain markets, certain shopping areas, certain parks, etc. What is difficult is for even this food to not become another element of our status and reputation that we present to others, which I feel like it has become in our American society.