In defense of uh, junk food

I start this post with the melancholy knowledge that to some of you, I will be defending the indefensible.

After all,  my friends tend to be well-educated, middle or upper-middle-class men and women.

We know about the evils of preservatives and food coloring.

When we can afford it, we buy organic.

Those of us who can or care to cook, do.  Our idea of indulgence in food is pizza from Trader Joe's.

Some of us have medical reasons not to touch the chips or Hershey's, not to dip into the dip or eat a pint of Cherry Garcia..

But not all.

Lamenting the demise of Hostess Twinkies (as quite a few of my friends have done online) is one thing.

But actually eating one? Quite another.

Fat.  SUGAR.  Cream made out of heaven-knows-what.

A square a day of dark chocolate? That's healthy.

But Little Debbie snacks? Gotta be a bunch of bad mommas buyin' that stuff -- or perhaps dads who don't know better.

Consign me to the ranks of the ignorant -- or worse, the defiant.

My larders brim over with various types of crackers and chips. Not only do I bring milk AND dark chocolate into the house, but I order it from Amazon and Great Britain.  My son's lunch has both Oreos and Lay's Potato Chips, leading him to ask why his dinner looks like it came over with the Puritans and his lunch like a meal fit for decadent Rome.

I have no idea.

All I can say is that into everyone's life a little trash must fall.  Trashy food. Trashy novels. Trashy love affairs.

And if you don't provide a little exposure to food, movies and books that may not be up to your ideals,  kids are going to look for it somewhere else. (Love affairs, they can find on their own).

Personally, I enjoy a handful of chocolate chips in my cereal or a soft-serve ice cream cone on a hot night in Glenmoore.

No paragon of culinary virtue I.

In fact, turning on the stove often seems like the beginning of an amazing race to dinner.

But I'd rather my kids knew how to eat less than perfect food in moderation, rather than see it as forbidden fruit.

Or that's my justification for that huge plastic bin of chocolate candy, anyway.

I had to buy it --because the Halloween candy is long gone.