A Culinary Clash at Deep Level

 Meals on the Underground, by their very nature, rarely promise gastronomic transcendence. More often than not, line-side dining consists of a microwaved ready meal or whatever unidentifiable leftovers survived the morning commute. High cuisine it is not.

Tonight, however, promised a daring departure. Courtesy of my wife slipping a curiosity into my lunch bag, I found myself face-to-face with a Chef Select Mac & Cheese with Pulled Pork. On paper, it struck me as a thoroughly odd combination. Having now consumed it in the dim fluorescent glow of my break room, I am forced to concur: it is a bit weird.

To be fair to the culinary architects involved, the components in isolation aren't half bad. The Mac & Cheese on its own is genuinely lovely—creamy, comforting, and precisely what a tired soul needs. The pulled pork in barbecue sauce is also remarkably decent. The tragedy occurs the second they mingle. Stir them together, and the delicate balance collapses into a slightly sweet, confused pasta mashup with occasional floating fragments of pig.

It wasn't outright terrible, but it is safe to say it won't be topping my list of shift-work delicacies anytime soon. A solid, if bewildering, effort.

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