Do you know what the best thing about flying with a buddy pass is? Being pleasantly surprised because you were assigned a seat in First Class. Do you know what the worst thing about a buddy pass is? Being unpleasantly surprised because you were bumped from your flight after you had an assigned seat. Both instances occurred to this blogger last week after visiting relatives. The tension of the moments prior to boarding, or not boarding for instance,became particularly taxing, especially since it would take me three days after to arrive my original date of departure to arrive to my final destination. This should not come as a surprise, since I was travelling in a weekend from the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport located in Atlanta, Georgia, the busiest airport in the entire globe.
There was one more particular aspect of my trip which made it particularly interesting, and a bit taxing. Despite the fact that I was travelling in First Class, I did not experience "First Class Food"; in fact I declined to have it when offered during that flight. No, it did not look unattractive, it did not smell funny, on the contrary, I am sure I would have been quite satisfactory. Instead, it was me, I was involved in something special, which is part of my belief system. I was fasting.
In my church we have the custom to fast for a day as a congregation once a month and donate the equivalent funds of two meals to the needy. It is a great way to avoid being absorbed in today's materialist and superficial values, while doing something good for someone else. Furthermore, speaking in personal terms, when I fast I feel closer to my true self, with the universe, with mankind, and with God. I highly recommend the readers to experience what fasting can bring into their lives (just be wise and don't starve yourself to death).
My mind and heart were at peace while the whole airport ordeal, thanks to my fast, however 24 hours since my last meal were coming closer, and despite my will and mind-over-matter approach towards fasting, I was one weary traveller. The next available flight to my final destination was hours away, and I knew that it was still possible to have to stay in Atlanta that evening, which actually happened. Given my circumstances, I knew I needed to gather enough sustenance to withstand the rest of the ordeal without turning into an ogre (my wife says I get cranky when I'm hungry, the rest of my family agrees, go figure). The dilemma came then, given my low tolerance to gluten, the omni-presence of fast food places in the airport, and the lack of appeal that such places' food inspired. Which food place would be worthy enough to end my fast that day? Ok, I was being a bit pretentious but, sometimes you just have to maintain standards about the food you eat.
That day I knew I would end up eating in a franchise restaurant, but I thought that the best way of increasing the odds of ending the fast with a decent meal would be asking the airport's information personnel. I approached a young lady about a good sit-down restaurant in the airport. After her attempt to inquire about my preference in food (to no avail), she asked a question I had never been asked, having lived only in the Western and Northeastern States while in the US:
"Do you like Soul Food?"
That really lit the curious epicurious in this blogger.
"I've never had it. Where can I go?"
"You gotta go to Paschal's"
And with that, I headed for the place. It was evident that it was a step above fast food, given the hospitality, the ambiance, and more importantly, the smell of the food. Something that called my attention was the fact that the decorations of the place made reference to the history that involved the name Paschal's. It turns out the founders of the chain in which the founders James and Robert Paschal's original restaurant in 831 West Hunter Street became the meeting place of several historic figures in the African American History during the XX century, among them one of my favorite musicians, Dizzy Gillespie. This was a chain restaurant, but I still felt I was experiencing something more, something good.
The readers will probably think of me silly, but I was really excited that I was going to have my first taste of "Soul Food". I wanted a dinner that was robust enough to break the fast, in all honesty I wanted to eat meat, but not in abundance, I also wanted good mixed flavor, something sabroso. So I simply decided to go for the meatloaf, and I was grateful I did, for it was fulfilling, but I must say that the flavor of the meat, depended too much on the very tasty and enhancing sauce that came with it. I wish I could say more about the Meatloaf as the main course, but this was one of the rare occasions in which the sides were so superb, that they overpowered the chili. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, in this case it was the cornbread mini-muffins (which I wished they were not "mini"). They were so moist and full of flavor that I could not help to moan in pleasure when I ate them; a word of warning to the reader, given the fact of the strong impression that the cornbread had in me, and the fact that I would have wanted to have more , and more of them, I can confidently say that they can be both seductive and addictive.
I finished the main course and the cornbread (obviously) thinking that if this was soul food, I could have more of it anytime, in fact I wanted more of it. My server came not a moment too soon with the question:
"Are you ready for the dessert?"
"Oh, yeah, I want the cobbler", Yes, this blogger had seen what my neighbors were having and the cobbler seemed a common trend among them, which caused me to promptly state my craving for the dessert. Oh, the cobbler, the cobbler! It was how a dessert was supposed to be, sweet, but not extremely sweet. The thin sliced peaches allowed this blogger to enjoy the flavor of both the fruit and the caramel. Bravo, for the Cobbler! All hail Soul food, you can add this Latino to the ranks of your food-lovers. And finally, thank you Paschal's for allowing this hungry traveller to go on in his journey not only with sustenance, but also with the satisfaction of tasting an aspect of the African American culture that was simply new to me.
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