Saturday, August 1, 2009

Choices

So a couple of days ago I was watching American Eats on the History Channel. I originally started with the soda episode and semi-watched the beer episode while on the phone with my Grandmother. After we got off the phone I was concentrating a little bit more and one of the "experts" said something to the effect of, "for years in America we had one beer, one type of bread and about three types of cheese. everyone ate relatively the same thing and we didn't have much to say about it."

That struck me as so interesting. Considering that I love unique, local, craft brews, I realized just how fortunate we are to have as many choices as we do today. I can walk out of the condo and within a mile in any direction there are hundreds of bars and restaurants for me to choose from. Even when you go to the grocery store, it's hard to find one now that doesn't have a phenomenal cheese section and rockin' bakery, not to mention the regular varieties in the dairy case or bread aisle. I'm so glad that we live in an era where the world is small enough for us to have such choices, both made locally and imported from around the world. Hey, I even find Big Red here in Chicago from time to time! That is amazing!

One of my favorite things about Chicago is the lack of chain restaurants. Really, there is only one Chili's that I can think of within city limits and there are no Olive Gardens or Applebee's. There are so many different mom & pop restaurants here that I constantly have a list going in my head of places that I want to try. There is also a huge BYOB restaurant population, which is fab for recessionistas like me. So, tonight I will raise my glass to Chicago for being an awesome city of not-chain-restraurant eating!

3 comments:

  1. So I just found your blog, great read. Your side bar says that you want to visit all 50 states, I'm from alaska your a runner you should try to make it up here next year for our Mayor's Annual Marathon!
    Google it, it's a great run, and scenic, YOU MIGHT EVEN SEE A BEAR!
    Good luck with your training

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  2. Oh, I hope that marathon is in the summer. I thought Chicago winters were bad but Alaska!!! :)

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  3. Hey, don't hate on the big OG, okay? :)

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