Apparently, people in the neighborhood around Loyola don't use butter on their food anymore, because I went to both Primo's (one of Loyola's dining areas that also has a convenience store) and the Royal Farms down the street, and neither of them had sticks of real butter in their dairy cases. All I could find were products that were similar to butter but weren't actually butter - I think the label on the packaging said something to the effect of "vegetable oil spread" or something like that. Well, so much for baking cookies this weekend! And this isn't the first time this has happened to me. This one time last year, when I needed some butter to bake some cookies, neither Primo's, Royal Farms, nor the nearby CVS on York Road had anything not made with hydrogenated vegetable oil, and I ended up using this Blue Bonnet butter substitute in my cookies. They came out all right, but it just bothered me that I wasn't using real butter. Now, if I had the time, I could have gone to a grocery store and got a box of butter quite easily, but unfortunately, there are no supermarkets reasonably close to campus; the only way to get to a grocery store is to take the shuttle to the SuperFresh in Towson, and I just didn't have the time. It just irks me that none of the places nearby had actual butter in stock.
Why the big deal, you ask? It's simple - I like my foods with natural ingredients. Sure, I pass on the organic produce to save money, but it's not like that tomato was synthesized from a bunch of chemicals - it still had to grow from a seed on its own, even if its DNA was altered a bit to make it better, so in my book, it's still natural. But I draw the line when it comes to the choice between butter or margarine / butter substitutes. From what I understand, the chemical make-up of margarine is only one molecule different from that of plastic, and I can usually tell by the smell and taste that it isn't real butter. There's even been studies recently suggesting that consuming margarine can cause cancer. Kinda ironic, since people who used margarine originally did so because they thought it was healthier than butter. Health issues aside, I just feel kinda leery about imitation or artificially flavored foods - something about chemically synthesized food products just doesn't feel right with me. It applies to a lot of things I buy - butter, sugar, vanilla extract, bacon bits, milk, and bread, just to name a few. I guess it's just the fact that it's not the real thing that bothers me. I like to know that I'm eating real food, and when I bake anything, I take a lot of pride in using natural ingredients, which is why I only use real butter in my cookies; otherwise I feel like I'm deceiving the people who eat them.
That's why I'm a more than a little annoyed that I can't seem to find actual butter at any of the nearby stores lately. When it comes to food, I like to know that what I'm buying actually is the product it's supposed to function as. 'Cause if it isn't the real thing, it's just hard to swallow - in more ways than one!
B-)
Arriving at Fiumicino from Oslo, I had approximately 13 hours to kill
before my flight back across the Atlantic the next morning. What could have
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Hello Mike,
ReplyDeleteMy 18 year old daughter has been accepted at Loyola University Maryland and it is one of her top choices we will be coming down to visit next week. I am disappointed to find that it is such a trek to a real grocery store. We use real butter also and not the vegetable spreads that are likely to have trans-fats.
We are not Catholic and have some concerns about the religious orientation of the University. Good Luck on your graduate school attendance. Robert
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to get groceries without a car. One option is to take the CollegeTown Shuttle (free to all students, just show your Loyola ID to get on) to the SuperFresh at the Towson Town Mall. The only catch is that it only runs at certain times of the day. Your best bet is to go on a Friday or Saturday, since it comes around more frequently on those days. On weekdays, I've found myself waiting for over an hour for the shuttle back to Loyola.
Another option is to order your groceries online through Giant's Peapod delivery service (www.peapod.com) and have them delivered to your building. You have to place your order the day before, and there's a $10 delivery fee and a minimum purchase of $60, but if you don't have the time to venture off campus, it's a pretty good option. I was at Loyola for the summer a couple years ago, and the shuttle wasn't running, so they definitely saved my life!
As for the religious orientation of Loyola, I really don't think you should have any reason to be concerned. I can assure you that no one at Loyola is going to try to push Catholicism on your daughter. Loyola prides itself on it openness to diversity, and that includes religious beliefs as well. I myself have a lot of friends at Loyola who are non-Catholic or even non-religious. When it comes to social life, Loyola is pretty much just like any other school - we're actually kinda notorious among the Jesuit schools for being quite a party school, strange as it may sound. Don't let that turn you off, though, because that doesn't mean we're not hard-working; the philosophy here seems to be work hard, play hard. As I always say, learn to live, but live to learn.
Hope this helps, and I hope your daughter will find Loyola a most fitting place to get her education, but whatever she decides, I wish her the best of luck in the next four years.
Peace,
~ Mike