‘The FedEx Meal Plan’

It’s an odd thing to be caught in the conundrum of eating foods sourced ‘locally’ while also satisfying the foodie urge…but I think it is possible to dissect these favorite dishes from places abroad so that you can identify which ingredients can be found locally…and then recreate them at home. If you aren’t particularly talented as a chef, another idea for you is to use the internet to find a recipe for your dish (or email the restaurant directly explaining your distance), then take that recipe to your favorite local bistro. Make friends with the chef. Give him or her your wish and you might be surprised how he or she can not only recreate the dish, but also use as many local ingredients as possible (or make things from scratch), or even substituting local ingredients to make it even more interesting. This is how great food evolves! Customers bring us ideas all the time, and we love the bond it creates with them. Plus, it pushes our chefs to try new spices and ingredients and makes them even more talented in the long run.

Or just find your local Chinese, Indian or Malay restaurant or market.  It seems resoure intensive to send away for one meal from the other side of the world.

For years I have begged my French friend Claudine, who lives in the region of Auvergne, to have her mother-in-law, Mammi (Grandma) Nicole, send me care packages. 

Mammi Nicole prepares care packages nearly every week for Claudine, her son and grandson (who live 90 kilometers away) to ensure they are eating properly.  Mammi Nicole isn’t happy if you don’t eat well. 

Her care packages typically include a weeks worth of sauteed seasonal vegetables, lettuce with incredible flavor, sweet tomatoes, spicy radishes, tasty carrots, string beans and baby potatoes like no others - all picked fresh from her garden.  Vegetables are accompanied by freshly prepared meat as roasted chicken (from the local butcher), soup in the winter, and fresh madeleines from the local bakery. 

I’ve eaten all over the world (including yummy black street noodles in KL) but there is nothing like Mammi Nicole’s cooking.

Meals are prepared fresh each day and offer a quality and taste I haven’t found any where else.  If FedEx would deliver she would have a booming business with New Yorkers that live on take out. 

Nothing begs a care package more than Mammi Nicole’s cooking but to be fair Claudine’s Mom is also an amazing cook.

You can see some of Mammi Nicole’s goodness at the following link: http://www.thel-list.com/2009/08/02/clermont-ferrand-france/

There is nothing like eating local, sometimes the taste and ingredients just can’t be copied.

I always thought the expression “more money than you know what to do with” was meant figuratively.  This guy is desperately seeking something, and I don’t think it has anything to do with food.