Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Home Depot Center: Y U No Serve Decent Food?


The consensus among just about everyone with whom I spoke at the CrossFit Games: The food options at the Home Depot Center were sorely lacking. If you looked hard, you could find the In-N-Out truck tucked away in the ass end of Tent City, and you could load up on the snacks sold by a couple of Paleo food booths (including Steve's Original, purveyors of my favorite Paleo crack in the world -- a.k.a. PaleoKrunch). The Wahoo's stand served up a special rice-free (though not bean-free) Protein Bowl that was pretty satisfying, too -- especially after I drowned it in hot sauce. But for the most part, the vendors at the stadium were hawking stuff that didn't appeal to this particular crowd of insanely fit, food-quality-obsessed people. (Seriously: CINNABON?)


My disappointment was exacerbated by the fact that I had dinner the night before the Games at my brother- and sister-in-law's place. 


Over the past couple of years, they've cultivated an amazing vegetable garden in their backyard; it's teeming with fresh produce: tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, corn, lemon cucumbers, peppers, wine grapes, blueberries, watermelons -- you name it.

You think my wife's obsessed with food? My brother-in-law makes his own wine, brews his own beer, smokes and cures his own meats, and makes his own sausages. And my sister-in-law is a professional chef. (Now you know why I feel totally inadequate in the kitchen.)


To steal a page from Nom Nom Paleo's book, here's all the homemade, homegrown stuff I ate at their house:





A suggestion for next year's Games: Grilled meats and vegetables. They'll sell like hotcakes grilled meats and vegetables.

Now that I've gotten the food porn out of the way, I guess I'll start posting photos from the actual Games. Stay tuned -- same Bat time, same Bat channel.