Wednesday 26 June 2019

Festival Foods That Are Oh-So-Good but Definitely Aren’t Good for You


My diet over the past week hasn’t been the greatest, much to the chagrin of my body. However, I can confidently tell you that my stomach had one of the most amazing 5 day stretches its ever seen thanks to all the amazing food vendors at camping festivals.


Okay, so, let’s for a second just forget about all the alcohol I had during my 5 day stay just outside Manchester, Tennessee. I’m more interested in talking about the food I had during my stay and how amazing and unique it all was.

Usually, I’m inclined to tell you about healthy foods and what’s all good for your teeth. But today, I’ll tell you about all the wholesome unhealthiness I had during this year’s summer festival shenanigans and tell you exactly why they were so super unhealthy. It kind of works in the same way, right? Just reversing the order? No?

Ehhh screw it. I’m gonna talk about the amazing food regardless. Maybe I’ll slip in exactly why it’s bad for you.

First off, the best thing I had all weekend was a thing called a Roti Roll. Picture a fluffy, flaky taco shell filled with the best pulled pork, kimchi, macaroni and cheese, and egg over easy you’ve ever had and voila! It’s a Thurman Merman Roti Roll. The amazingness that erupted in my mouth as I bit into the first bite is absolutely indescribable. Was it good for my teeth? No. Was it good for me in general? No. Was it good? Oh god yes.


Next on the list was the best donut, bar none, that I’ve ever had in my life. There’s this company called Peachy’s, and they’re an Amish donut company. I donut think I’ve ever had such a fluffy, cloud-like donut in my life, and the light glaze on top was just the icing (getting carried away with the puns now, aren’t I) on the cake. I also had a “unicorn donut” from this very place that was topped with pink icing, loads of sprinkles, and an upturned waffle cone with icing on it. Talk about diabetes on a plate.


Finally, we have the Ozark Mountain Biscuit Company’s “The Special”. All you’ve really got to picture is a biscuit sandwich that has fried chicken wedged between with some gravy, an egg, and some collard greens. This is, by far, the best biscuit sandwich I’ve ever had. Don’t let my poor description fool you: this was a fan favorite at Bonnaroo and a close second for me.

Overall, though, seek out those Roti Rolls and you’ll wish you never had. They’re that good.

Change Moves Us Forward


A lot of people have recently begun advocating for veganism (and sometimes stopping just at vegetarianism) in the name of animal rights. To me, I commend this sort of movement and respect that people have such strong ideals that they could switch their diet up completely.


On the opposite end of the spectrum are a slew of people who say that animals aren’t on the same level as humans and don’t deserve the same rights. While I don’t necessarily agree with this sentiment, I can only respect the opposition’s right to have those very opinions. Do I think it’s a bit lazy to write the whole conversation off right then and there as done just because people think that animals don’t have the same rights to live as we do? Yes, I think it’s lazy. But that’s another discussion entirely.

Regardless which side of the fence you find yourself on, there’s definitely a point to be made about changing out diets to plant based only. First off, a huge part of global warming can be attributed to the overgrazing of a large part of the world’s plains, which contributes to cattle’s methane production, an element that has a significantly bigger impact on the ozone layer in comparison to carbon dioxide.

Just as well, if we were to entirely change up our diets in favor of plants only, we’d see significantly less health problems that are often caused by our mass consumption of red meat. This, in particular, is a huge problem in the United States, and switching up things that we eat would directly benefit our entire population. We’d even notice a change in our dental health for the better.


So what’s not to love about veganism?

The biggest problem is getting everyone on board. The movement is still small enough to not make waves across the nation, meaning people will continue holding onto their norms of eating meat, drinking dairy products, frying eggs in the morning, and overall buying processed foods from the local grocery.

Anytime there’s to be a big shift in the thinking of a mass of people, there will be resistance. I don’t think there’s ever been a point in history where every single person unanimously agreed that something new or different was the right move for the nation right away. However, in time, things change for the better. How do you think we’ve got to the point we’re at currently with technological advances? In new modern medicine and dentistry?

It’s all because of change.