I started watching Food Inc. last night. Wow, what a film. I got through the chicken part and realized that I’m going to have a few dilemmas when this film is over. Chickens are fattened, over-drugged and abused on their way to assembly-line slaughter. Cows are corn-fed and crowded into feedlots that breed bacterial contamination.

Pause. I’ll finish the film later, I thought. These truths are going to be hard to deny. See for yourself.

Then today, I awoke feeling hungry. I didn’t eat a proper breakfast, so around 11:30 am I was famished.

I had a fresh, ripe avocado ready to eat. So, I decided to make my favourite sandwich: avocado, cheese and tomato, toasted with mayo. You can get fancy with the bread or the cheese (feta works very nicely), but I went for the basic item – whole wheat bread and medium cheddar cheese. Boy, was it good. Mmmm.

That particular sandwich reminds me of my old friend Paula for some reason, probably because it was her favourite and she introduced me to it. Then I started thinking of other sandwiches that reminded me of people. My dad used to like to eat sardine sandwiches. He would clean the sardines of their tiny guts and tissue-paper skin, then meticulously lay them on the bread (toasted, if I recall). On top he would lay thinly sliced onion, then drizzle white vinegar over the whole thing. I could be imagining the whole thing because it does sound a little disgusting as I describe it now. But it has its place.

The other immediately accessible memory that is linked to a sandwich takes me back to the basement of The Darling Building on Spadina Avenue, just south of King St. in Toronto. It was right around the turn of the century and I was working down in the old garment district yet again. There was this tiny vegetarian restaurant in the basement and the guy who ran it made this sandwich I just loved. He started with tofu, marinated in tamari and roasted, then paired it with daikon radish and hot dijon mustard. Amazing that I remember that sandwich so vividly to this day.

Clearly, I am food obsessed. But why, it would be fair of you to ask, does the title of this post mention flank steak?

My new favourite quick meal is flank steak that has been marinated and frozen. The marinade very yummy and freezing the meat in the marinade ensures it gets very tender and flavourful. The marinade is simple. For each pound of flank steak, add the following marinade:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Place the flank steak in a large freezer bag, add marinade and seal. Then freeze it. When you are ready to cook it, defrost and BBQ to perfection.

You will be smiling when you take a bite of this meat – no matter where it came from.