a cracker barrel of monkeys

growing up, i assumed that the cracker barrel (which, you must admit, elicits a very specific visual image) served grits, saltine crackers and peanut brittle. when we would stop to eat there on a road trip, my stomach would drop, in part because i was a little korean kid who ate korean food 90% of the time and found traditional american food messy, salty and uninteresting. . .on a side note, i used a fork+knife for the first time in second grade and was completely embarrassed. . .anyway, the cracker barrel was the epitomy of american dining, i thought - chicken fried steak, gravy, lots of ketchup. it left a fairly meaningless entry into the log of my experience and would only resurface when my dad would come home from a road trip with peanut brittle and random tins of steel cut oats.

i can't remember when i was coerced to go there again (both physically and mentally), it was sometime in 2006, and even before we sat down, i could already taste burned cornbread and whole milk, i imagined the food coming out with sawdust from rocking chairs and having to play that weird peg game that resembles a pentagram. to my utter amazement, it was a delectable meal and a great human experience.

and since then, i have frequented it at least once a month to delight in such dishes as "eggs in a basket" and pancakes with wild blueberries from maine. but there is usually a long wait, which is where the point of this blog comes in.

i do not understand the retail side of cracker barrel. actually, i get the coca cola paraphernalia, the john deere collectibles, the old style candy bins. but i don't understand the clothing (who wants to try on a broom skirt when they're either hungry or really full?), the 24-inch fake chocolate easter bunnies or the purple lame princess outfits. and how do they all fit in there without having any sort of cohesion? this is amazing to me.

this past sunday, chad and i were there waiting for a table and we decided to see how many people actually buy stuff. one lady purchased (in addition to her meal) a tiffany stained glass looking chandelier, a giant fake chocolate bunny, three huge hershey bars and a tin of mints. we sat down before we could watch anyone else, but most everyone in line had SOMETHING, which made me feel weird.

we were waiting for someone to get the pink shirt with the brown inscription that read: "why fall in love when you can fall into chocolate?"