Anyone who reads about food knows what they should eat. And they probably have a pretty good sense of what they could eat, if they had plenty of money and an elastic gut.
But there's remarkably little food journalism devoted to what people actually eat when the nutritionists, tastemakers and focus group leaders aren't watching. That's why City of Ate's set out to document -- sporadically and unscientifically - Dallasites' culinary habits by asking them what's in their lunch pails.
I found Kevin Sears taking a peaches-and-casserole break from redoing the windows on Founders Square on Jackson Street. "It's rice, green beans, gravy and a little chicken," he told me of the dish, which looked wholesome and hearty enough to serve at a Midwestern church potluck.
Assuming the recipe probably came with a long family history, I asked Sears whether it was something he'd made before.
"Yeah," he said. "I made it last night for dinner."
