As I was watching a food delivery truck trying to squeeze its way around the narrow streets here in Key West, I remembered an article I had read last night in the April issue of Smithsonian Magazine. It was about the traffic problems in modern cities. It also gave some information on traffic problems in cities of the past.
In New York for instance, in 1900, horses left 2.5 million pounds of manure on the streets each day, along with 60,000 gallons of urine. Those were definitely not streets paved with gold!
I have heard stories about the traffic problems in modern Rome. Well some things never change. In ancient Rome, the traffic was so bad they banned chariot driving in the downtown area during daytime hours!
The Smithsonian article also mentions a study by the University of Maryland which found that on weekdays, parents spend twice as much time in their cars as they do with their kids.
None of this has anything do with food, other than that we also now spend much less time preparing our own food, and less time enjoying it. So take the time today to smell the aromas of some home cooked food with your kids. And then eat slowly and enjoy it. Long live Slow Food
