Why I Hate To Eat In Public

Eating solid food is a commitment for me. That is why I love Mezzacello and that Rick is such a great and imaginative chef. This is why I hate to eat in public.

I have to trade time for food (I must lay flat and lay still for a minimum of 30 minutes – each time I eat) I can’t eat foods that are too dry as I don’t have an esophagus with peristalsis and if food gets caught at my trachea where my stomach meets my throat I can easily choke or suffocate. Oh, and I cannot eat processed food or sugar.

No FAST Food, Just FRESH Food

No convenient fast food for me. Sugar catastrophically escalates my insulin response and my blood sugar drops to dangerous levels and I pass out and loose the ability to process most nutrients for three days.

I MUST eat fresh, healthy food. Thus Mezzacello has become my lifeline in this world. Now we have turned our urban farm into a learning lab.

Make More Food

We grow a lot of food. We store as much as I can. I have a wonderful, creative, empathetic, and patient husband who is a fantastic cook and I eat like a king.

It hasn’t been easy though. First we had to learn how to grow food and maximize yields. Then we had to learn how to preserve it and store it properly.

Food is a frenemy to my body. I can eat almost everything. But everything has a cost.

The Reality of the 30 Minute Rule

I still have very real scars from my surgery. Not all of them are physical. I am very serious about fresh food – because I have to be.

But I know — without a doubt — the true cost of food. I have lived it. I am living it.

That photo above is my body just after I lost my esophagus. Those scars are where they took my left lower lung out and that tube is how I ate. I understand and appreciate that food is a LUXURY.

None of this left me special or unscathed. I am happy to be alive, even if it means food is complicated. That 30 minute lay flat rule means I avoid eating out and I often watch people in restaurants eat their food.

Occasionally I will eat in public and then go out to a car or lay on a bench or in a doorway to digest and reflect. Sometimes people give me money. I guess they think I am a homeless guy in a fedora, dress shirt, and a bow tie. Who knows? It’s a crazy world.

The Origins of the Name Mezzacello

Like most good stories, the origin of the name “Mezzacello” begins with both a misunderstanding and some snark. First we’ll clarify the misunderstanding. Then we’ll get to the snark.

Monticello 2.0!? Ha! We can barely afford Mezzacello!

Richard Riley

Cross Purposes

Since the beginning of our relationship together, Rick and I knew we wanted both a garden and a house. What we didn’t know was how far apart our definition of ”garden” was. Garden is a pretty vague English word.

For Rick, garden meant a space of beauty and elegance and a peaceful calm quiet place. For Jim (myself) garden meant a dynamic system for growing food and manufacturing life. We had been living in apartments until then.

We had never really talked about what the garden would be, just said it would be outside and part of the house. Big ideas and dreams were on hand. Rick’s were in his head. I had all mine laid out in CAD.

Buying the House

When we found the house in Olde Towne East it was quite the happy accident. It had been long ignored with it’s vacant and overgrown south-facing lots, we were very excited. “This could make a great garden” we’d both said.

The Devil Is In The Details

We set about clearing the lot and identifying areas where we wanted things to go. And that’s where everything went south. Our vision for what this could be was wildly different.

Rick was planning long flower and boxwood beds with graceful walks meandering everywhere. I pushed back and asked where were the animals going to go or the robots and the gardens for food and labs for experiments? It was clear we were talking about two different things.

Enter Monticello

The ironic thing is we both referenced Monticello in our defense. Rick wanted a charming Gentleman’s formal city garden. I wanted what I called ”Monticello 2.0” with technology, recycling, biochemistry, and renewable resources and energy.

I clearly remember Rick staring blankly at me and taking a deep sigh. Note: this is where the Snark comes in. Rick looked at me wearily on that fall day in the middle of this vacant yard – still smoldering from where I had used a flamethrower to destroy weeds – and sighed.

“Monticello 2.0!? Ha! We can barely afford Mezzacello!” And instantly I fell in love with that name. He was absolutely right, of course, we could not afford it.

But in my mind we could not afford to even try! We agreed that day that Mezzacello would be about both stories. They would have to compliment and compromise.

That has been the guiding principle ever since. If it is here, it had to benefit all truths of the ”gardens”. And to make sure that happened we split the garden in two.

That is a story for another time.