Most of what we eat is equally good for us and equally unpalatable. Slices of overdone and warmed-over beef that have suffered in the electronic purgatory of a microwave oven, and which have then been coated with a gravy made of water, library paste and bouillon cubes contain all of the nutrients we need. They simply taste terrible. TV dinners, instant coffee, and peas and carrots that have been frozen, thawed and then boiled to death are not meals. They are punishments.
Frozen pies come in containers with beautiful photographs.
So easily are we convinced, that even in restaurants, places we go to relax and celebrate the good life, we are beginning to fall into the trap of eating menus instead of diners. There was even a photograph to whet the appetite for the dismal anticlimax of the reality. The fresh trout fillets were two severe rectangles of some off-white frozen substance that rattled when they hit the skillet. With the exception of the lemon wedge, which was real, this meal, like the menu, was abstract food instead of real food. By saying that such things are good for us we are implying that they will help us live longer.