this is not a feel good post...

For many years i have thought of the pieces that i am going to write now.
I will probably do this over time, but I have started it this day in November

The air we breath,
the food we eat,
the water we drink.
The earth we live on,
the homes we build.
through so many reasons, that i can not enumerate them all...
are not safe.

And yet, the problems that are expounded on
and the solutions that are brought, seem to be less than i could imagine.

Taking care of ourselves,
eat right (but is there really a way to eat right?), exercise, do things in moderation, do not stress out, but everything conspires against this.
To much sugar, too little, to much fat, but only of a certain kind.
Protein only, no protein.
No pasta, but eat like a Mediterranean (without pasta?)
Vegan, vegetarian, carnivore is anything "best"?

water treated, water tainted - what is really bad and what is economically convenient?

And so i can go on, but you get the gist of it.

Is something "organic" because it has no pesticides?
What about the plastic it is wrapped in?  Is that safe and the truck spewing diesel fuel as it carries the "organic" produce to market, that does not taint the product?
 (celery seems to get the most pesticide, as an aside, but some of the things i have seen come from the packaging is far worse, yes really!)

The pesticides that are used and then get into the water we drink in nanogram quantities. 
Is it better that we ate them (pounds probably) as part of our daily vegetable intake over the years?

The hysteria the the US EPA made over Radon, extrapolated from persons exposed to huge quantities in uranium mines.

But chlorine and its by products is not a problem,even though we are exposed to large quantities in the water we drink and the cleaners and the laundry.

But chlorine is used to kill bacteria, all of them, even the good ones...but the bad ones still keep coming at the restaurant, from a sneeze, from our own kitchens....

The fear is real - we have done a lot to ourselves (or rather those we let process our food), but the blame game is an illusion.
Each of us, everyday, no matter how careful we seem to be or want to be are exposed to quantities of carcinogens and toxins and bacteria to will kill us.
Much of it is "natural", much we made to protect ourselves from something we considered worse.

We have to live with this understanding that it is no ones fault and everyone fault..

disservice to the customer

This is not a restaurant review...

When "Sandy" hit, power was down all over.
The little (fill-in-the-blank) ethnic food establishment decided it would provide a service to its neighbors by opening up (or maybe it was just greed).
They had no power, but they cook with gas, no problem, right?
But the hot water is electric, so to wash their hands, it is only in cold water.
Okay i can deal with that, but then there is one more thing...
the refrigerators have no power and the little hole in the wall starts cooking at 11 AM for lunch.
Soon, with items being taken out of the refrigerator and freezer and with the ovens and stove going,
the temperature is no longer cold.
By 12 noon bacteria begin to grow in the food in these former safe zones.
Now, the E coli and Salmonella and camplobacter are not the worry, it is the simpler one, the bacteria that is everywhere normally that is the worry.
Staph, the kind that grows in your nose and in a cut.  It is everywhere.
It is also killed by heat, but it has a secret because by 6 PM, the organisms that are growing in the food in the refrigerators and freezers begin to produce a toxin.
The toxin is NOT destroyed by heat and so people begin to get sick.
The illness 's onset is rapid because it is a toxin and can be life threatening depending on how much a Person ingests.

If the power is down - do NOT go to the local food place where the power is also down, it will not end well.