MAC GORDON: Self-containment sparks ‘meal of a lifetime’

Amid hunger pangs caused by orders not to venture far into the outside world due to the coronavirus, I plunged headlong into our freezer. There I found the meal of a lifetime.

My wife and I apparently were not the only ones to cherish what I discovered. When I posted a picture of the dinnertime meal of garden peas, fried okra, tomatoes (with a dollop of mayo on mine; my roots are country), coleslaw, homemade sweet pickles and fried cornbread, my Facebook account lit up like Times Square with almost 300 “likes.”

That’s not a meal we ordinarily would have “plated,” as they say on the fancy Food Network offerings, in early March, but the virus has moved us toward extraordinary ways to gladden ourselves in difficult times. That type of summertime meal is extraordinary at this point in the year.

I suspect the okra did it. We are fortunate to have the champion okra grower of all-time to live and garden only a couple of miles from us. So last summer we paid the gentleman a premium price of $3 per pound for the finest okra grown in several states.

We country people – that’s most of the entire population of Georgia in my view (don’t get your cauliflower in a wad Atlantans; I know you are special) – pride ourselves on such table fare. If it was good enough for grandma and grandpa and our parents, certainly it’s good enough for us.

These are fearsome times. Millions of workers have been laid off. For some, their food pantries are being depleted. Without a steady paycheck, they wonder how to feed their families. Long lines have already formed at food banks from sea to shining sea to feed the hungry. The stimulus check will soon be in the mail to help relieve that worry – they say. You know who “they” is – the federal government.

Then there is that legion of people who do not cook at home. I worry about close friends whose cooking skills, even in emergency conditions, are nonexistent. They eat three meals a day outside the home – every day. But, under the cloud of “self-containment” their choices are suddenly limited to restaurants offering take-out only. I have one friend in this category of humans who, regrettably, still refuses to learn how to operate a coffeemaker in these tough times, much less an actual stove.

One of the most pressing questions is what local restaurant scenes will look like once these demoralizing times are over. Stimulus or not, the virus wave is bound to cause some restaurants to shut their doors forever. Of course, as happened in post-Katrina New Orleans, other entrepreneurs will arrive and soon make their mark – and the Michelin list.

Most grocery markets have remained open, but their shelves are often devoid of even basic items like ground beef and chicken (and, uh, toilet paper). Plus, one must worry that the items have been picked over and touched by potential carriers of the coronavirus.

My wife entered a local market wearing protective gear and clutching sanitizer. When she got home, she wiped down the items again.

There’s always a chowderhead who seizes the opportunity to make lives even harder. Already several cases have been reported nationwide of thugs purposely coughing or sneezing on customers in food markets.

For them, I suggest they be sent where they can get their just desserts.

Special Photo: Mac Gordon