Where Has the Time Gone

I was surfing the files on my computer the other day. Buried deep in the depths of a back-up drive between a folder named “Phone Pics” and one titled “Route 66,” I happened upon the folder “Random Food Shots.”

One of the photographs in the Random Food Shots folder

There was a time, several years ago, that I felt the burning desire to ensure that the world was aware of my amazing culinary observations. I was convinced that if I was only able to guide the masses to the locations that had satisfied my highly educated palate, I could make the world a better place, ease tensions across borders and maybe even achieve world peace.

To that end, I would eat out as often as I could, trying to never dine in the same spot twice. Simple business trips became a quest to find meals worthy of my noble praise. Family vacations centered on the likelihood of finding the hidden local dining gems in every corner of our chosen destination.

I joined a web-gathering of like-minded souls and quickly became the most prolific of the food sages. I out paced all of the reviewers in my region, penning hundreds of spicy missives describing each nuanced observation of my dining adventures.

During those days, nothing left my plate without being recorded for prosperity thru the lens of my camera.

Which is how I find myself here, sitting at my computer looking at a file folder with hundreds of photographs of food. And beer. Lot’s of beer.

Did I mention beer?

So why, I’m sure you’re wondering, did it come to a screeching halt?

The platform that I was writing for changed. They became less of a community, and more of a marketplace. I began to feel that I was being used to provide free content for their profit.

And my adult son hates it when I take pictures of my food.

But I feel that the world has been deprived of my services for too long.

And so today, I return.