Ian has been on a bit of a roll lately. Today he raises the question of standardization and homogenization of commercial culture on the road:
But on a long road trip, the understanding that you are never more than fifty miles from a Wendy's chili (low fat, kids!) or the 100% positivity that the Starbucks in Barstow has hazelnut syrup can be... oddly comforting. I've railed against predictability and ninnyism my whole life, and yet I am given succor that there are 12,804 places to get a large fries with McDonalds' bizarrely tasty hot mustard sauce. Omnitopia offers sanitation, can always provide a bathroom in moments of desperation. But it also means you will never try that fascinating-looking Mexican place three miles off the freeway. You will stop frequenting that indie bookstore, but why bother when Barnes & Noble lets you read on the couch in the aisle? Holding a Starbucks latté, for that matter?While that attraction to the familiar is there my reaction to travel is the opposite. I want to find that Mexican place and add it to my own set of stepping stones as I travel across the river. The more I travel often through the same places the more I find the places I don't expect to find there. So now I know there is a guy making "Syrians" in the centre of New Hampshire, that Di Pietros in South Portland, Maine is a little friendlier than the pizza is good, that there is such a thing as a chocolate Boston there, too, and salt potatoes in Syracuse and Cambodian diners here in Kingston. That is one reason why I have come to dislike the train or the plane as well. The car comes with brakes you get to use yourself. I plan to use them, too. I have to head into the Big Smoke overnight Thursday and I may stop, oh, about fifty kilometres off the 401 at an old church in the country for six small bottles of the finest pale ale in Ontario.
Sometimes it does not work out. Like the bad bathrooms. Like the roads you shouldn't have taken. Like this summer's side trip to the Connecticut shore where we had a hard time finding the spot until we found Mystic and the Sea Swirl. It is all about the hunt and it just takes time.
Comments
James Bow - November 30, 2005 5:13 pm
I am so with you on this. After watching Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me", I suddenly realized how lazily I was heading for those chain restaurants whenever I was on those long road trips. I made the decision to always choose the local restaurant over the chain where possible. The result has been some memorably good experiences.
Alan - November 30, 2005 5:31 pm
You know, the internet ought to have a widget so you can go to a g-map and find all the great places like this with real reviews. It is inordinately silent on the subject of good road food.
LCG in Nova Scotia - December 1, 2005 2:51 pm
I agree absolutely.
I have always been baffled by the fact that the McDonalds in Moscow was only patronized by tourists. Who travels around the world to eat at Mcdonalds? I vividly recall visiting friends in England a few years ago and being treated to a meal at Burger King. I distinctly recall combing the all too familiar menu board for something that I could be reasonably sure of not containing British Beef (remember that media blitz?).
I can recall dozens of meals eaten (usually standing) from market stalls in Turkey, Mexico and Eastern Europe, any of which would make a Canadian Health inspector recoil in horror. No food poisoning, absolutely delicious food, sometimes you don't even know what you are eating, and once two of us ate our fill and got change back from the mexican equal of a toonie.
cm - December 1, 2005 8:00 pm
I ate at a McDonalds in Amsterdam but I was 17 at the time and use my youth as an excuse. I also had the ice cream at a McDonalds at Liverpool Street Station in London much later, but that was for comparison purposes only.