Freedom Food

        Though I believe  myself to be as social an eater as any of my my fellow human beings, if you asked me which I preferred, a  dinner party at Cameron Mitchell's or Smith and Wolensky or a snack of Combos and Diet Coke in my car I'd pick the Combos and Coke in my car.
        Granted, that's mostly because I'm not partial to fancy expensive restaurants; on the other hand I do like eating Combos and Coke in my car. 
        In fact of all the food I eat in my car the Combos-and-Coke combo is my favorite and the one I indulge in most often,  almost every day,  as I cruise  from house to house, piano lesson to piano lesson.
        Combos and coke are my energy cocktail, what keeps my blood-sugar level steady (I mean, I'm guessing that's what it does) and my mood elevated at all times.  As proof  I'd challenge every student I've ever had over the last 17 years to come up with one instance when I've shown up for a lesson not in a good mood.  Now you all know why.  (Of course I guess it also helps that I like what I do, right?) 
        Where Combos have it over my other car food choices is that  you can pop Combos into your mouth safely while driving and then wash 'em down with a swig of your Coke at the stoplight. 
        In truth I think it's actually sort of a freedom issue:  cars give you the freedom to move around and Combos give you the freedom to eat  while you're moving around. 
        Not that there aren't a lot of other good freedom foods out there; and from time to time, depending on my mood du jour, I do feel like a bit variety in my driving-around menu. To this end I always keep, besides Combos, a substantial stash of similarly crunchy, salty, snacks in the console of my car. And of course even while driving  around I do like my dessert, among my in-car favorites being gummy fish and caramels (though with caramels you have to  wait for the stoplight to unwrap them. I think that's only responsible). 
        Now I realize that confessing all this begs the accusatory rhetorical question:  is that kind of eating healthy? 
         I won't argue that it is.   But my freedom food is my  soul food.  And if it's not keeping me healthy, well, at least it's keeping me happy.