Food Police to the Rescue

Lunch for work this week

Last night on the primetime local newscast, they showed a story where the city's health inspectors had closed down some more food establishments in the southern city. They have been out and about with a vengeance, ensuring that eating places have their establishments in tip top shape. Many, sadly, have not.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am more than slightly anal about hygiene and when that is married with food that I have to ingest, well...I am a nuisance.

With that being said, it is why I have an adventurous streak when it comes to cooking because my rule is "If I love it, I better learn how to make it". I stopped buying roti, for example, from all unsundry and through the amateur chef's Bible aka the Naparima Girls' High School cookbook (big up my alma mater for being awesome and global) I have been able to whip up a complete roti/curry meal for myself, friends and family, when I need to. That being said, I do still patronise roti shops, but the list of those shops is very, very short.

So when I saw the news item last night, it reminded me why I am drinking celery and spinach this week. It also perhaps provided extra clarification as to why I felt so ill on Sunday, since I had lunch from one of the nasty offending establishments that was closed down yesterday.  I typically avoid food courts like the plague but when this place in particular opened, I thought maybe they were above board. I guess I was wrong. Seeing some of the photos I was disgusted, and it goes to show that "having a name" when it comes to food, and having a nice modern and professional menu board and well dressed frontline staff does not mean what goes on in the back is up to scratch.

A pot observed in one of the kitchens yesterday.
A pot being used to cook stuff for us to eat!!!
Photo credit: Trevor Watson

I guess eating out is like love - your heart may get broken but you don't give up. You cannot cook all the time, and you cannot cook everything. Some may even repeat the saying we use here, "what doh kill, will fatten, and what doh fatten will purge", or yet another,  "what you don't know, won't hurt you". Well, I may not always know what's going on in the back there, chefs and cooks, but I am glad that the authorities are letting us know and I hope that they remain this vigilant about it. In the meantime, I will still eat out, though with serious discretion - though I wonder if I can get any more picky about it. lol.

And I have a salad and some veggies - last night's veggie/fruit cornocupia...

Apples, carrots, a small lime, celery, spinach, cucumbers.
To the juicer we go - yummy.

I have been doing really well with my detox but it has been hard. I decided to go full hundred yesterday and not have coffee, but that was an epic fail and I think I started seeing smurfs, gnomes and fairies by 9.30am. I immediately went to the office kitchen, where all they had was Maxwell House and Nescafe instant, and I made a cup of watery, creamless, near sugarless coffee. It was not gourmet but it did the job. I also got stuck in traffic heading back to South and had no snack, having eaten my banana in the morning. By the time I got home, I was about to eat the dog if he came near me. I ended up inhaling/destroying a pack of Chee-Zees before being grounded enough to juice the fruits and veggies above, and make a soup.

Just a few more days.