Presentation Nourishes

A crumply brown bag containing several plastic baggies. The preceding is a "run-on sentence" and it is ugly as is the reality of facing a lunch that is poorly packaged and, more often than not, not very nourishing.

Too many people go to work and/or class with bland bologna and mayonnaise sandwiches, potato chips, diet cola, and an underlying depression that no clinical panel will uncover. People think they cover the bases when they have the three elements of a sack lunch: sandwich, side dish, drink. The sandwich will often have a meat, or so you think. Processed meat does not have to meet very many standards and the result is a big package of sodium and stabilizers making its way into you WHOLE WHEAT (*kudos*) bread. Potato chips are called a side dish, but what they are is a filler, like spackle. It covers up empty spaces, but has no structural integrity. Finally, diet cola is like hotwiring your car with bacon. Confused? Me too.

The reason I led with this disgusting image of a crumpled brown bag is because many of us have had one of those waiting for us in the cupboard at Elementary School. Did you salivate over the prospect of ripping open that thin post-consumer recyclables enclosure? Did you expect it to house the freshest of ingredients, the most satiating spread of handcrafted morsels, a dessert that made you look at your friend's Fun Size Candy Coated Chocolate Peanuts like the trash they were? Chances are, if you brought your lunch, you took the cookie out and chucked the rest. At least you could get first in line for handball.

My wife is picky. After one day of phoning it in as described above, she would probably run to an overpriced coffee shop and pay $5.95 for a $1.69 sandwich and a big iced caramel macchiato. I'm not being mean and I don't blame her. Those sandwiches look like they have real meat in them and the iced macchiato makes me feel like I'm drinking an upside-down grown up root beer float (delicious!). But it's not ideal for daily life.

But this is:

Www...WOWEEE! What is that? Did you do that with magic?

Is what my wife asked me. Not really, but that's how I choose to remember it. I usually like a little mystery, but I put this together in a little showy, provocative fashion with a little lace holding it together. Shoelace that is.

Bottle of Prosecco to the first one to comment about the mustard on the container. I know it's bad form, okay. This is popped potato chips and nectarine accompanying an Italian dry salami sandwich on naan with avocado, lettuce, tomato, and mustard. She likes jalapenos on the side, so there they are.

This is a well balanced lunch. You'll notice there is more than one color to it all. There is a compliment of nutrients in this spread, as opposed to simple carbohydrate, simple carbohydrate, indigestible meat product.

Packaging sandwich and chips to look like a meal is an art. It is worth the effort because a meal that is enjoyed is a meal that lasts. You have to feed more than your belly during your precious breaks. When you derive pleasure from providing this pleasure, everyone wins.