Throughout my life as a functioning adult, I have had brown bag lunches that inspire the person next to me to say, ”wow, you treat yourself right!” and others that make me want to hit the restart button. Still today, I experience both. Fortunately, the latter is only on rare occasions, because I love lunch (like I love all meals) and I usually take the time to prepare—or order—something tasty. Life’s too short to have too many Bad Food Days.
I was mulling over the idea of the adult brown bag the other day when IEATBR food blogger Teresa Bailey Day and I realized we were both planning to attend the same second grade field trip to the Audubon Zoo. We decided to make the occasion a brown bag date. Before going in to see the animals, our group sat under sprawling live oaks and opened our brown bags. I’d brought crab salad made with Louisiana jumbo lump crab meat and Teresa had made good-looking black bean burritos and homemade pound cake from a family recipe. She shared a slice of her cake with me. It was tender and springy, just like a good Southern pound cake is. It was made sweeter by the addition of a praline cream soda, a slight modification from her mother’s faithful choice of 7-Up. I had brought an extra plastic fork for Teresa so she could sample my crab salad, made with Blue Plate mayo, lemon juice, Tabasco and Creole mustard. Next to me, my son munched on his usual, peanut butter and banana on whole wheat, a few Zapp’s chips and an apple—pretty prosaic, but it makes him happy. Teresa’s daughter relished her slice of cake.
We make a big deal about what goes into a young person’s lunchbox these days, but it’s equally important to tuck something inspired and delicious in your own brown bag—and maybe even trade with a fellow foodie.
