Tracie McMillan is the author of The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table, an award-winning look into our nation’s food industry. Before joining a panel discussion on the affordability of a healthy lifestyle in America, she talked in the Zócalo green room about procrastinating, dressing up as Scooby Doo’s Velma for Halloween, and flirting with younger men.
What’s your writing routine?
Like most writers, it begins with a lot of procrastination. I have a plug-in on my computer that blocks the Internet.
What’s a misconception about rural Michigan, where you grew up, that annoys you?
The idea that pets are meat. That comes from Michael Moore’s work, Roger & Me. The way people in Michigan are treated in that film makes them all look like really messed up, weird people. But a lot of people just hunt. They’ve been doing it for a really long time.
What’s the best neighborhood for biking in NYC?
I live in Clinton Hill. I really like riding out to the Rockaways.
What’s your favorite toy?
Besides my computer? I like rhythmic noise things—like drums, little musical instruments. And yo-yos.
When you were young, you worked at an orchard making caramel apples. What’s the secret to making a delicious caramel apple?
We weren’t making the most delicious caramel apples. There were one-gallon cans of caramel. That’s all I know about making them.
You’ve been named a “food visionary.” What does being a food visionary mean to you?
It just means I’m contributing something to the discussion about food that no one else is. Part of my job is just reminding people that poor people exist.
Which would you least like to run into in the wild, a bear or a shark?
Probably a shark, because I’m not a good swimmer. I know how to scare off a bear.
What did you do for fun in Middletown, Connecticut, where you taught at Wesleyan University?
Well, I only commuted up there one day a week, so I went to the university’s cafeteria?
What’s the last embarrassing thing you did?
Flirting with someone too young for me on my soccer team.
What was your last Halloween costume?
The last one I remember was a blonde wig; I just went as a blonde. But the best costume I ever had was a Velma costume, from Scooby Doo.