Confessions of a food-a-holic

I admit it, I love food. Wonderful, tasty, edible items are a weakness. I know that if I were to become less active and let the love of food take over that I would likely be on the larger end of Clydesdale cyclists. One look at family photos and it is apparent that if being overweight has a genetic component then I am doomed. And that is a great thing about doing so much cycling; I do not have to pay extreme attention to the intake side of the equation as the burn rate helps to counter balance what I eat. The motto of the San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club ["Volamus ut Edamus, Edimus ut Volemus" (We Ride to Eat, we Eat to Ride)] sums up my relationship with cycling and food; they are part of a duality that serves me well.

One of the great things about cycling in western Europe is that there is a bar and/or restaurant at the top of virtually every major pass. After climbing 4000, 5000, or 6000 feet up some mountain having a refueling station close at hand is great. Here at home, if I climb Mt. Hamilton the only caloric items available are what is in the candy machine at the back of the visitor center. That is rather lame, in my opinion. We need some mountaintop restaurants here in the states. In 2004, as The Wife (then friend) and I got to the top of Passo dello Stelvio in a light snow storm it helped the psyche and the bodies to go into the restaurant at the top and fill up on Pasta Carbonara chased with a helping of Strudel before descending down the other side. Much better in many ways than a Snickers Bar from a machine.

I am a bit of a food agnostic. I will eat most anything if necessary. I’ve consumed cuy (Guinea Pig) in the Andes and macaw soup, crocodile, agouti and several other wild animals in the Amazon basin. And I am sure I do not want to know the identity of a number of things I ate in Southeast Asia. When push comes to shove, however, I have a preference for the cuisines of the mediterranean region. Don’t make me choose a country, just give me all the tastes of that part of the world. Besides being my favorite region, the cuisine works well with our attempts to become localvores as much as possible, eating what is grown and produced here rather than having For my last birthday The Wife gifted me the book ‘mediterranean Fresh’ by Joyce Goldstein which pays homage, for the most part, to salads of the region. We have started making our way through the book, but slowed down until some of the key ingredients become available from local sources.

Part of my food obsession is watching cooking and food shows on PBS, which are usually a great source of inspiration for things to cook. This fall I had high hopes when PBS debuted the series ‘Spain… on the road Again’. But other than the eye candy of Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols there was not much to recommend the show; too little time spent on the food, scenery, and culture, and too much time on Mark Bittman and Mario Batali (in either florescent green or fluorescent orange crocs, depending on the episode). But, I am totally hooked on “José Made in Spain” with José Andrés. Not much of a looker, but that is fine as the show is all about food and it is evident that he is very passionate about the subject matter. We usually catch it just was we return home from 3-4 hours of riding on Saturday, in a caloric deficit and all too willing to be seduced by the rich, flavorful looking food he is either eating or preparing. Last Saturday it was roasted rack of lamb with sauteed potatoes and garlic. Every episode is a call to buy a plane ticket to Madrid or Bacelona from which to launch a culinary adventure. Until I am on the plane I will be attempting to recreate as many of these dishes as possible. Of course a good bottle of Tempranillo will help me get in the proper mood.