Pizza chains seem to be united in this one thing. Most will deliver,and they carry enough of the most popular toppings to please everyone, but they tout their menu as being able to deliver a whole meal, and they don't. Oh, yeah, they will bring the pizza,and buffalo wings, with dipping sauces, and stuffed crust, and cheesy bread, or bread sticks, again, with dipping sauces, and even bring soda,and dessert. And they call that a meal. But where is the rest of the meal? Like a nice fresh garden salad,or some wonderful veggies! But no, they would rather fill you up on bread, bread, and more bread! Now, it cannot have escaped your notice that almost everyone is all up in arms about how heavy Americans are getting, from Doctors and other health professionals, right down to Jay Leno, who makes mention of this fact almost nightly in his monologue. Of course, usually, he is talking about the double and triple burgers,and "super-sizing" meals, and the "monster burger",and the way that the children in this country no longer go out and play to run all those calories off, but now sit in front of the t.v. playing video games,munching high calorie snacks and slurping down sugary drinks until they are called to dinner, and then sit down to pizza, with garlic Parmesan bread sticks,and chicken wings or chicken strips, with a dipping sauce, and finish it off with more bread, with a coating of Cinnamon, and a little pot of frosting to dip them in, and to drink, they have more pop!With all the fat, carbs and sugar this one meal represents,a normal human being should be able to survive for an entire day with no more food than that. And yet, what they have filled up on, has taken the place of some very important nutrients that my parents would have been insisting that I eat, BEFORE ingesting these tasty, but oh so empty, calories. First, a really good salad, with lettuce, tomatoes and onions, perhaps with celery or carrots tossed in, and maybe with pickles,radishes,cheese and/ or olives on the side.Knowing what was to come, my mother would have suggested a homemade dressing, with extra virgin olive oil, and apple cider vinegar,blended (shaken in a cruet) with Italian seasoning,red wine vinaigrette or, just plain lemon juice drizzled over the top, and instead of croutons, a handful of slivered almonds tossed in. After the salad, the chicken strips, or wings would have been presented, still to an eye for the protein the body needs, before jumping off into the feast of bread to come. And when the pizza was finally brought to the table, so would a tempting light refreshing fruit plate or compote, as the dessert be presented, with admonishments to leave room for dessert. And, Milk, Not soda, would have been the drink at the table, as well as ice water,or iced-tea.
Yes, I know that it is just easier to call out for pizza, and let the family just chow down on whatever is brought to the door. And Mother and Dad both worked hard today, and they deserve a break once in a while, don't they? Sure. But at what cost to your children? How much trouble is it really, to chop a few veggies,and toss a salad? Is it really all that difficult to pour out glasses of milk, and leave the 2-liter bottles of pop for later? And the fruit plate or compote can be any sort of fruit you and your family like,so what is the problem? They will still have their pizza, but with a few little additions and a change in the way things are presented, this is now a healthy meal,which will help them to feel better tomorrow than they would have without them, and just might change your children's future, once they understand that vegetables and fruits are delicious,and get used to the idea that eating them regularly is far better for them than an uninterrupted diet of bread, cheese, and meat,and bread and cheese,and bread and sugar.
After all, the children really don't know any better. They just know what they are used to, and what they like. Parents, on the other hand, are supposed to be the ones who show them how to eat properly, and it looks to me as though they are falling down on the job. They have fallen into the trap that says: this is what the kids want, why not make it easy on yourself, take the coupons from the flyer you got in the mail, and call the pizza place,and...you know the rest. Or, because they see it on television all the time, and they make it look so good, why not let someone else dictate what's for supper tonight? And then it's every other night. And then it's every night. And pretty soon, you've got kids blimping up like little dirigibles, not wanting to move around because they feel so logy,listless and stuffed all the time.
And the Pizza chains? Well, for them, it's all about the dough. The more dough they can get you to buy for your family, the more dough they make,and they like that. They don't care about the fact that you are feeding your kids way too much bread. Why do you think they never offer you a salad? Salad is not profitable for them, because they have to buy it,and spend time fiddling with it that should be spent slinging dough in the air,and throwing pies into the oven! Some will admit they have salad on the menu, but by and large, they don't mention it unless you do. They would much rather send buffalo wings and pop with that pizza,because that is what keeps you coming back, and the chicken's right there in the cooker, already prepared, ready to be scooped into a cardboard box and added to your pizza order,and the driver can grab as many bottles of pop as you want from the cooler on the way out the door. But with salad, most people are picky and they want it just so, and that slows down the whole show. They have to actually listen to you, and then put the stuff in the salad that you actually want. There's no cheese over the top of everything that's going to melt down,and then you will get half way through it before realizing that something you asked for is missing, as with a pizza! How many times have you gotten through the first,and part of your second slice before you come to the conclusion that they forgot the mushrooms, or the green pepper? And, by that time, depending on the size of the group, the pie is almost gone. Too late to call up and complain then, isn't it?
Well, I do it anyway! After all. I have had a chance to get a good look at the pizza, while munching my salad, and tasting the barbecue wings, so if I see there is no way that is extra cheese on that pie, or they forgot my green peppers and mushrooms, I call them and tell them I am not happy, and what do you know? They end up sending me a whole new pizza, free of charge! And the extra dough? Well, the pizza place lost dough on me that time...and I avoided ingesting extra dough by scraping the toppings off the second pizza, onto the first,and the next day, the birds in my garden LOVED all the pizza crust I threw out to them !
OUI?
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