Tired of Wraps

A choice of six different kinds of wraps for lunch - it wasn't surprising. I was at an all day informative event about the arts on Cape Cod, lunch was included. For about a hundred people, the cafeteria prepared six kinds of wraps: egg salad, tuna salad, seafood salad, ham and cheese, turkey and tomato, and chicken salad. Each diagonally cut in half, served buffet style. Most people took two halves, each different. Mini bags of potato chips, spears of dill pickles and cans of soda on ice were available along with three kinds of cookies for dessert. A very light, lunch, each to prepare, choose, clean up after. I did not expect anything more lavish and didn't even desire anything more lavish, that was sufficient to my appetite.

But the truth is I've never thought wraps were a good idea and don't enjoy them. The tortilla like base is usually flavorless even when it is fresh and seems special because it's whole wheat or red [tomato?] or bright yellow. And there's just too much of it. I always tear away nearly half the wrapping. I strongly suspect this kind of sandwich was designed by someone with the motive of adding filling carbs while scrimping on the more expensive filling. I can certainly see the advantage of the wrapping method for keeping the filling from falling out onto a plate. It's neater to eat and I'm sure that makes many people happy. But I would work harder at keeping my food under control and appreciate an old fashioned sandwich with enough filling to actually taste and a minimum of the unnecessary carbs.

No, I don't long for the happily dead days of Wonder Bread sandwiches with a thin slice of ham and the artificial brightness of American cheese. I'm thinking of real sandwiches that I might make at home -- in fact, often do make at home. Not the stacked high deli sandwiches that certain NYC restaurants have made a reputation with and for which they charge extravagant prices, good old fashioned ham and cheese on rye with excellent mustard and maybe a crispy leaf of lettuce, of the beloved BLT.

I see in the wraps more all American calorie loading along with nutrition diminishment -- yes, wraps are better than Big Macs or Whoppers in the cholesterol area -- but really not so much. Eating healthily is not easy.