The Op-Ed Page: Why Can't Restaurants Cook Healthy Food?

August is always a quiet month around the office, and this month is no exception.  So, I've taken a couple of random vacation days, including today.  Awesome Wife agreed to play, so we started off the day with a rain-soaked 20-mile loop through Arlington on the bikes, then decided to get some lunch.  We opted to go to Grass Roots Station, a restaurant nearby in Alexandria.  It looked like a nice place, has a nice website (I have intentionally not linked to it, for reasons that will be apparent), and served vegan options.  We ordered the vegetarian sampler, which is quasi-Ethopian, with lentils, chick peas, and sauteed spinach, served with injera.  The food was ok taste-wise, but was so soaked in oil, that we both left at least 1/2, and felt awful the rest of the day.  Luckily, nothing an hour of pilates with AW couldn't fix.

But, it brings up the bigger issue.  WHY?  This food was well-seasoned, and did not need all that oil.  Probably 1/4 of the amount of oil, maybe less, would have been ok ,but literally, there were pools of oil in the food.  Which brings up a funny story.  Over the weekend, we decided to head to Clarendon, and get vegan pizza (no vegan cheese) at Pete's Apizza.  While we enjoyed it the first time, we asked if they would lighten up on the oil.  When we got the pizza, we had to turn each slice on its side, mop with a napkin, and it was still repulsively oily.  All we wanted were fresh veggies on some crust with tomato sauce.  We even asked!  But, no.  The food was ok taste-wise, but was so soaked in oil, that we both left at least 1/2, and felt awful the rest of the day.   Picking up on a theme (with no variations) here?

We have tried any number of restaurants, purporting to serve healthy food, or at least to accomodate those of us who want healthy food, but food is served literally dripping in oil, or deep-fried, or some other artery-clogging variant.  Even where the flavours could stand by themselves, the restaurants just don't want to do it.  Lack of faith? Pandering to our worst gluttonous tendencies?  Don't give a crap (not really a pun, but a "bon mot.")

We work really hard to stay fit, and take care of our bodies.  It's really important to us, especially since AW is working hard to make her body a fortress against cancer (check out her website for more on that story).  We cook healthy food, we don't drink or smoke, we exercise maniacally--it would be nice if some restauranteurs might want to help Americans eat healthier, as some of our food truck friends do.

In the meantime, as much as it is a pain in the butt, we are going to stick to home-cooked food, the occasional truck, and the one restaurant that seems to get it in this area, Pita House.