George Foreman, RIP

Life can be weird. Jung talked about synchronicities. Maybe what I relate here is that or maybe it's just a coincidence.

I was an avid user of the Foreman grill and around the turn of the century, I watched him on infomercials grilling steaks, burgers and bacon. I eventually got one of his units after I got my (late) start as a young twentysomething living through the dot com era. One of the flaws of this form is that it likes to reflect on the good old days, when things were better. Anyway, cooking with my Foreman grill was fun. Grilled cheeses, paninis (when those became a thing years later courtesy of Panera) and so on.

My Foreman grill was used regularly for years, up until I went vegan. Two years of veganism was enough for me however and I returned to the way of the hunter gatherers whose genes I proudly carry. Somewhere along the way, between moves out of the city or something, I was separated from my Foreman grill. I've debated several times over the past ten or more years getting another one. I eat a lot of steaks and hamburger meat, but have felt that another appliance is just too much right now for my kitchen. The pantry has become a storage place for my ice cream maker and slow cooker. The crock pot I've not used in years. It's cooked a lot of one pot wonders for over a decade and someday, I'll haul it out to slow cook a chunk of beef. My life has been mostly carnivore for the past two months and I'm enjoying watching the fat melt. I will post someday on the benefits of the carnivore diet for me personally.

Reflecting on my crock pot, I've so many memories of exact moments in my life, what I was prepping, what was going on in my life. I'm starting to get sentimental, even tearful, over this device.

According to my sources, the grill was introduced in 1994, the year I was able to buy beer legally. Foreman didn't invent the device but he gave his endorsement to it and could be seen pushing it in late night infomercials with gusto. One article I read said he ended up making $200 million from the endorsement, more than he ever did from his boxing career. My mom and I would stay up late at night and into the early hours of the morning smoking cigarettes and watching tv, so we knew George Foreman and the power of his fat draining grill. Still, for a kid with no job and no prospects, it was a luxury item I denied myself until my fortunes changed.

Anyway, George Foreman, his bubbly (sales)personality, his kids all named George and of course, his magical metal plates that, when heated and clamped together, made cooking steaks faster and easier, has been on my mind of late. In fact, for a couple of months. Like I said, the question of replacing the large gray Foreman grill had popped up from time to time, but of late, the Spirit has laid the question on my heart.

So I looked up George Foreman, to see if he was still with us. Sadly, he died seven days ago at the age of 76. I feel like a part of my mind wanders the ether, compiling random useless stuff.