Dad denies son’s request to become a fry guy
We try to eat healthy in my family, with fruits and veggies a
relative staple of our diets. That’s not to say that we don’t also
eat ice cream and tacos and butter and other bad for you but good
tasting items.
One thing we don’t have in our house is a deep fryer. The evils
of deep-frying are well documented, as there are no healthy aspects
to dipping something in a tub of grease or oil or fat. I believe my
wife and I received a Fry Daddy for Christmas one year early in our
marriage, but we gave it away after deciding we didn’t want to
fully clog our arteries before our children were born.
Dad denies son’s request to become a fry guy
We try to eat healthy in my family, with fruits and veggies a relative staple of our diets. That’s not to say that we don’t also eat ice cream and tacos and butter and other bad for you but good tasting items.
One thing we don’t have in our house is a deep fryer. The evils of deep-frying are well documented, as there are no healthy aspects to dipping something in a tub of grease or oil or fat. I believe my wife and I received a Fry Daddy for Christmas one year early in our marriage, but we gave it away after deciding we didn’t want to fully clog our arteries before our children were born.
So because no one in my immediate or extended families owns a deep fryer, my sons never knew what they were missing.
Then, a couple of weeks ago as my oldest son and I were watching “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien, we were introduced to Chicken Charlie, who calls himself the frying kind of California.
With deep fryers in front of them on stage, Charlie and Conan proceeded to batter and fry a zucchini stuffed with a hot dog, a Spider-Man action figure and Charlie’s sunglasses. None of those things looked appetizing to me, though I do like a good fried chicken at KFC or tempura vegetables at AJ Sushi.
My son, however, was smitten by the process and the possibility of frying stuff at home.
He’s a fan (OK, I am too) of the deep-fried ice cream desserts at El Torito and Chevy’s and the deep-fried banana at AJ’s. We also limit our KFC visits to once or twice a year, because that finger-lickin’ goodness is badness if consumed more often than that.
By the end of Chicken Charlie’s segment, my son asked if he could get a deep fryer for Christmas.
I laughed at the request until I realized he was serious. He is proud that he knows how to bake brownies and he knows how to toast a waffle and heat up a frozen pizza, but do I really want to turn over a boiling vat of fat to a teenager and hope he doesn’t burn off a finger?
The answer is no.
Chicken Charlie is a wonderful guy, I’m sure, but he is also looks like his expertise has caused him to put on excess weight, which is probably one of the downsides of being the king of frying. You cannot stay svelte when you deep-fry cheeseburgers, Twinkies and pickles; unless you don’t eat them, of course.
I’m not worried that my son, who is an active kid, would have his weight balloon if he owned a deep-fryer. It’s that I could just see him and his high school friends doing Tonight Show-like experiments with food and household items to see what they can fry.
Anything that can be dipped in batter can be deep-fried, so they could try a golf ball, scissors, car keys, or the zucchini weenie for which Charlie if famous.
I see no benefit to a high school freshman owning a deep fryer, so I will stick to my denial of his gift request. He does earn periodic paychecks for his work as a referee for the Hollister Recreation Department, so he could save up that income and buy a Fry Daddy if he really wanted one.
But as most parents of teens know, they will not part with their money unless they are buying a movie ticket, burrito, iTunes card or some other item that will make them immediately happy.
This won’t be one of those “Aw, come on Dad” arguments, as my boy knows that my veto of his request is in his best interest. But if we’re watching a landscaping show and he asks for something like a lawnmower because he develops a sudden interest in yard work, we’ll talk.
Adam writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and former editor of the Free Lance.
