The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

If I had been thinking, I probably would have asked my mother-in-law to please pack me a lunch for the flight to Tampa. Elmarie usually has some homemade meatballs in the freezer, and she makes terrific kolaches and the world's best potato salad. But I didn't think of it, and so we left the farm yesterday morning for the airport with about 150 miles of road ahead of us, and not a place between Protivin, Iowa and MSP where you can pick up a decent box lunch - at least not on a Sunday morning.

When we entertain at home, we take for granted that we all partake in the same dishes, prepared in portions large enough to share. So isn’t it a bit odd, in this age of dining out as entertainment, for friends to gather at a restaurant and each order a different meal? It’s a very American way of eating, and it embodies those all-American values of freedom and rugged individualism—we each get what we want, without compromise.