Meat and Potatoes
What ever happened to meat and potatoes?
“How about sushi?” is a common question at meal time. Did you realize that sushi wasn’t even introduced into the United States until the 1950s and the California roll came to America in the 1970s? The number of sushi bars in the U.S. quintupled between 1988 and 1998, and has kept on growing. (While you’re waiting for your next order of eel, you can wow your friends with these and other fun facts from this site.)
A walk (or drive) down any street in Westchester will reveal a veritable United Nations of food options. A burger is no longer just a burger. It could be a bison burger, a turkey burger, a veggie burger, or a Portobello mushroom, disguised to look like a burger. And “farm to table” has become something of a novelty, although at one point it was the only way that food actually got to ones table. The food truck has become a fine dining establishment and these vehicles are now even being reviewed by food critics. Of course, everyone is now a food critic because social media enables people to talk endlessly about where they ate, what they ate, and how many calories/carbs they ate.
Gone are the days when breakfast was bacon and eggs, lunch was a P&J and dinner was meatloaf and Tater Tots. The food pyramid has its own website and 11,000 people like Clean Eating magazine on Facebook.
“What’s for dinner?” is no longer a basic question. It requires significant thought and debate. But you can always retreat to one of the many diners in our County and keep it simple with a grilled cheese and a milkshake and an order of fries. Raw fish and seaweed and complex carbs be damned!
Is there something you miss? A change you’ve been ruminating about? Contact me at nancys@theonswitch.com (or mail me a letter). I’ll happily entertain ideas for future columns!
Nancy A. Shenker has lived in Westchester for 22 years (40% of her life). Her business, theONswitch marketing, located in Yonkers, specializes in combining traditional time-tested marketing strategies 
with new media (including social media). She works with businesses nationally (and, thanks to technology, can sometimes even work in her pajamas). She is also the CEO of a new publishing venture, nunumedia and just launched a series of business comic books.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.