On the right track: Shops at 30th Street Station make it easy to avoid fast food. Photo by Michael Persico

From the Market

Don’t let traveling derail healthy habits.

by Mara Zepeda

Last week I mourned the passing of Herb Peterson, creator of the Egg McMuffin. Perhaps it was because to me, his invention is one of the few vestiges of fast food that almost resembles actual food. I buy what I call my travel McMuffin only during solitary journeys. The most common environments in which I indulge is while waiting in line for the 7 a.m. Keystone train.

As I relish each bite of warm, savory goodness, I can’t help but begin a halting internal monologue in defense of this unassuming breakfast sandwich. It’s an egg, right? A normal egg. Like you’d get at the store. Not organic, not free range. And the English muffin, Canadian bacon and cheese? Well really all of these ingredients can be found in near-identical form at any local diner.

And patronizing the establishment to begin with? Joan Kroc (wife of the McDonald’s Corporation founder) assuaged that guilt long ago with her $200 million donation to NPR. It’s a whimpering defense and at times even I’m not convinced, but it does usually lead to a balled up square of paper on the dashboard.

Recently I had occasion to reconsider my ground travel dietary choices. I was outfitting a friend with a selection of delicacies for a journey north, and it was implied that I would not be handing him a white paper bag with the words “I’m lovin’ it” in Korean for his five-hour journey. I began with a well-balanced boxed breakfast: two soft-boiled eggs, fresh strawberries, a banana, an oatmeal roll and a nutty hunk of Dutch cheese.

Lunch featured red bell pepper strips, sugar snap peas, slices of medium rare tri-tip steak, roasted and salted almonds, and chocolate chip cookies. From start to finish, with a batch of cookie dough from the freezer, assembly took about 35 minutes.

The guidelines for homecooked train fare are few: finger foods; morsels of protein; cleanly wrapped, low-odor snacks that won’t make your seatmate recoil and bury his nose in his sweater; plus the inclusion of something overtly healthy like fruits or vegetables. Nothing feels more virtuous than speeding past a Cracker Barrel with basket of Seckel pears and seedless grapes in the front seat.

So what unprocessed ingredients can be foraged at 30th Street Station if you can’t make a pre-trip stop to the market?

My vision was to create a similar menu of market fare with near raw ingredients. A recent review of the offerings confirms that travelers can compose meals similar to above with a bit of creativity. Così’s fruit salad cup ($2.59) or brie and fruit plate ($7.59) paired with hard boiled eggs ($1.79) and roll (79 cents) from Au Bon Pain takes care of breakfast. For lunch, Faber Coe’s newsstand fills in with salt and pepper cashews (noix de cajou, a product of Vietnam, $3.49). Asian Food Fair offers an assortment of steamed vegetables ($4.99 per pound).

With some pleading, Cucina Italiano will sell you a “set up,” the inside contents of a hoagie, without the roll, which is sort of like a distant cousin of a charcuterie plate. But I have to hand it to Au Bon Pain for jumping on the healthy, small plates bandwagon just last week. Their newly unveiled Portions program (Jenny Craig-esque name, I know) offers 14 affordable ($2.99 to $3.99) dishes with 200 calories or less, many of which are just what I would’ve prepared at home had I gotten my act together: apples, blue cheese and cranberries; mozzarella and tomato; chickpea and tomato salad; barbecue chicken.

In general, Au Bon Pain’s menu offers a plethora of healthy ingredients just waiting to be deconstructed. It takes extra time and thought to pull together a personal picnic for ground travel in the car or on a train. With my napkin tablecloth and foil-covered butter pat, Herb Peterson is a distant memory, but a fond one nonetheless.