Food Sin Number 6

In this heavenly world of food us foodies pride ourselves on wholesome, home cooking with good, fresh produce. Let’s be honest, there can be a certain smugness that comes with knowing that we don’t survive solely on ready meals, takeaways and oven chips, that we know how to whip up hearty meal from scratch and that our saintly shopping baskets are filled to the brim with vegetables, herbs and pulses.

But take another look at that basket. Move in closer, push the olive oil to one side and lift up the organic fish. What’s that underneath? Could it possibly be……no, surely not? Not JUNK FOOD? Oh yes my friend, guilty as charged.

You see there’s a seedy underworld in this gastronomic paradise. It’s the dark side, where temptation lives and submission is rife. Debauchery, that’s what it is. Shocking.

For some, it’s the sweet, sugary chocolate (or candy bars for our US friends) that breaks them. For others, the salty snacks and for others still it’s the towering takeaway giants that beckon – the burgers, the fried chicken, the (horror of horrors) kebab in the early hours of the morning. You won’t hear a foodie admit to this very often, of course not, it goes against the grain, it’s the unspoken, it’s everything we abhor…isn’t it? Well yes, but even us foodies are weak sometimes. It’s true and I hang my head in shame. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

Now I’m not saying that ALL foodies submit to the odd, er…what are we calling it…indulgence, but its out there you know – it happens. At the end of the day, some of the junk just tastes so damn good. It does, it really does. OK we wouldn’t want to live on it, goodness no - what an atrocious thought, but every now and then is ok, isn’t it? Sort of a reward for being so good the rest of the time. Yes, I think we can talk ourselves round to believing it’s ok. But, um, don’t tell anyone will you? Let’s keep this confessional to ourselves.