"Hurrication" Dining Tips
By Margit Bisztray, Food & Travel Writer

About two hurricane threats ago, someone in our company emailed out the question on everyone's lips, does one drink red or white with a hurricane?

Now, you may be thinking, "That isn't funny! Hurricanes are serious!" But if you're thinking that, you don't live in hurricane country. Those of us who do, not only have to make light of the ever-present threats between June-December or we'd go crazy, we also need to take such things as hurricane menus and a ready booze supply seriously.

Of course, some witty member of our team responded instantly that either red or white wine was fine, so long as it was "dry." Rats! Wish I'd thought of that one! On a more realistic note, if you have any wine at all, you drink the white first (before the refrigerator warms and the ice melts and nothing's cold) and then the red (including the ones you were "saving" at a "controlled temperature" because the only thing controlling the temperature now is Mother Nature). Then you empty the liquor cabinet. Then you start bumming off your friends who planned better.

And, what does one eat during a hurricane? The first days are actually fun, what with cleaning out the fridge and if you happen to have a gas stove or grill, making weird omelets and stews (hot dog omelet, leftover stews). The following days are like camping: canned things and cereal and disposable dishes because neither the dishwasher nor the water heater works.

After the fifth day or so, it becomes not so fun. Graham crackers and peanut butter for breakfast is only amusing once. Likewise canned beans with olive oil for lunch, or cold Beef-aroni and a carrot for dinner. Chips and salsa is a good option, because it always tastes like you're eating something fresh and you start to miss that around day five. Guacamole if you can swing it makes the above a feast. Sometimes people can make their freezers stay cold for days, so on day five someone might suddenly announce that all the lobster tails they'd stocked now need to be eaten, so you will suddenly find yourself feasting on grilled lobster, albeit with warm beer.

The best hurricane meal I ever had took place during a hurricane, which was Wilma. My husband and I had a tiny hibachi (a coal grill) that took forever to light with the wind and rain lashing around, but finally did light and heat up. About 2 hours after we started, we were eating pancakes cooked over the grill, and reheated hashbrowns, and sipping tea we made in a kettle over the same coals. It tasted wonderful, and with no power on, our family sat around together having a picnic on the floor. Does this answer the question of what to eat or drink? The answer is, whatever you have, with people you love, and no distractions of television, phones or obligations to get any work done.

NOTE: Margit Bisztray has been reviewing restaurants and writing about food for ten years. She has published three editions of The Complete Key West Dining Guide, and her work has appeared in such publications as Vogue, Gourmet, Islands and Metropolitan Home. To read more restaurant reviews, log your own personal opinions, rate your favorite restaurants and watch streaming video archives of these shows and other reviews, visit Margit's Top 5.