European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 06, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse To dinner diners should skip the ingredients course in a not one of those health food nuts who read ingredient labels before purchasing the product. I gave that up years ago when i realized that because of government Label Laws food producers were telling me things i really did t want to know. Lets face it pronouncing the words they use today is difficult. Spelling them is impossible. Retaining their meanings Well forget it. I am one of those people who reads while eating. I never realized one was possible without the other. How can anyone enjoy eating without having something to read i suppose if you re watching a Bowling for dollars a or world class wrestling on Ajun then i could understand. I read while i eat,.or is it the other Way around no matter. Sitting at my desk recently i was eating one of those a a unhealthy to dinners. You know the kind loaded with too Many calories too much fat too much Salt. And then i added Salt because a it needed of course people like me done to know All those bad things because we re looking at the great picture on the front of the Carton not Reading the Small print on the Back. Maybe that a Why they put it Back there. Anyway it Burns me up w Hen i come across a word i Don t recognize Yand i have to dictionary out to find out what a Dummy 1 am. I mean have you Ever read or a Doones Bury and found a word in the cartoon strip you did no to know Burns you up too. I la bet. As i said i was eating this to dinner and having read everything on the front Side i turned the package Over and started Reading the ingredients. Boy i wish i Hadnot done that. My troubles really began then. Here Are the things that concern me. A reconstituted onions the dictionary says a a re Means to a do it constituted Means a to be the elements or parts of to set now really. What do we have in this dinner onions that used to be somehow arc no longer but once again arc what is it that the onions wish to be part of and Why can to they be. Leo and in Are you out there a a re hydrated apples the dictionary says this is x a a compound containing water combined in Adco invite ratio the water being retained or regarded As being retained in its molecular got that not me. They took the water out of perfectly Good apples. Then they put the water Back in. Why i done to think i appreciate that but in a not. Sure yet. A a a a -. A a. A a a a partially hydrogenated vegetable Oil the dictionary describes this As a to Combine with but Why Only partially my grandmother told me a anything Worth doing is Worth doing All the this maybe like saying a a it a close enough for government a Hydrolysed vegetable protein the diction Ary says a decomposition of a chemical compound by reaction with water such As the dissociation of a dissolved Salt or the catalytic conversion of glucose to that Sas Clear As vegetable Oil and Miave no questions on that one. But wait catalytic conversion done to i have one of those on my car no i drive a diesel. A modified food starch says this Means a to change in form or Why change the form or character of food starch was the character modification the Only solution How was it modified and most import Tant,.Why? How can i Ever be sure the unmodified form or character was not to my liking some smart High school chemistry teacher is going to w rite in that if 1 had paid attention during my school Days. Id already know All this As do today a teen agers. Not so 1 went out to the bus Stop where a group of teens were enjoying a smoke break and 1 asked them. The Only thing a they could comment on was the catalytic Comer Sion. They said they work on cars with Gas not diesel motors. They could not explain the relationship Between catalytic conversion and vegetable protein. I Feit a lot better after that talk. In a expecting Tjie dietitians will also write in. They think they re so smart. Have you Ever seen. An overweight dietitian i Haven to. They May not cat the junk foods most of us real people cat but i can Tell you they sure wish they did. They May be thin but they suffer for it. In closing id like to report that the to dinner was Damn Good,.and i la do it again real soon. Hand me the artificially Flavoured garlic Piz a a ice Cream. Please Robort t. Schei folo is Deputy director of logistics for . Community in Wiesbaden Germany be our guest to plus Magazine has space for guest columnists. If you have encountered anything amusing confusing frustrating or fascinating about life in Europe in the Nuli tary or in general wed like to hear about it. This is not a place for gripes or letters to the editor a done to expect an official answer just loads of response from you friends. So sum up your thoughts in 500 words or less and Send them to be our guest to plus the stars and stripes Apo 09211, be sure to include a Telephone number where you can be reached during the Day extra mom is Handy when rearing kids Barbara vujakl1ga guest columnist h ave you heard about the a adopt a Momy program no Well its not run by the recreation Center or family service Center. Actually its quite unofficial in fact it usually just happens. A Quot i was thinking about this service the other Day while standing line. I overheard a conversation Between two behind me without deliberately listening i gathered that they were both recently married to military members newly arrived in Germany and that one of them was in the Early stages first pregnancy. Frankly by this time i was eavesdropping. It All sounded so familiar bringing Back memories of myself As a 19-year-old Bride newly arrived in the states from England. Truly a stranger in a strange land. I knew precious Little about being a wife much less a military wife. As for motherhood Well nevertheless i entered that blessed state just before my 21st birthday. I really needed my Mother then. I wrote Long letters Home and received assurances and advice by return mail. But mail is tax slow to be of any real use. With babies you often need on the spot advice. Phone Call were marred by thoughts of Cost per word. My in Laws were Halfway across the country. Into this breach stepped Leslie my first Leslie a kids were still Young teens and pre. Teens but she had a vast store of experience that i lacked. She helped me get used to being a military spouse and a spouse in general and i am sure that my daughter would have been in grave danger if Leslie Hadnot been there. It really made me wonder about those Brave pioneering women. Athe 18 months that i spent with Leslie were the most difficult of my life to Date and without her help and support i May Well have Given up and gone Back from whence i came. Leslie was just a Little older than my oldest sister then but she filled the role of mom very . Given the nature of militia a life you Van guess that Leslie and i soon went our Sepa Rale ways but we have never lost touch. Some eight years later i returned to Europe. Even though i was in Germany and not England at least i was on More familiar turf. Contrary to popular belief there is a lot More than a common language that separates americans from the English. I was now More experienced ways of a military wife and had even started to pass on my knowledge to younger women. However As my. Daughter headed into the terrifying teens i again found myself with no Frame of reference. Enter a adopt a Momy no. 2, Gwen. I Ler a pc Rince included four kids with the eldest being Only a couple of years younger than myself and the youngest just out of her teens. Again this substitute mom was on the spot As my own female relatives could not be. I have found that teen. Agers Are a lot like babies in some ways one being that you again need a lot of on the spot advice. It seems that no matter what stage of life you Are in you can either Benefit from the experience of someone older or provide that service to some. One else. I have it on Good authority a from los lie and Gwen a that the relationship is enjoyable from both sides. So maybe a adopt a Momy is the great Unsung social program of the military sys Tern. Barbara Vay Hiya is a member living m Germany. January 6, 1991 sunday to plug Page 3
