SC - Dying Appliances WAS: *GRUMBLE*

[Sue Clemenger]

Gunthar, Evil List Administrator wrote:
>Something that disturbs me about the members of the list is the sometimes
>oversmug attitude that pops up. There are a lot of feelings that if it isn't
>homemade or by a tiny specialty shop then the food is junk and only the
>uneducated American cretins would eat such swill.
(snip)
>I've viewed several threads happening right now and superior attitudes and
>even arrogance have been poking through. Discussions are good. Recipes
>and assistance are great. But degrading things, cutting down one regional
>cuisine over another or even superior slamming of others who dare to not
>do everything at home should be considered with caution.

I agree with what Gunthar says and i hope that, while my posts 
express personal opinion, they do not express any kind of contempt 
for people who have different taste, knowledge, and preferences from 
me.

(snip)
>I feel that Boston Market does a good job. The chicken is moist and tasty,
>the potatoes are real and so is the gravy as well as many other dishes. It's
>not the best you can get but definately superior to many fast-food markets.
>If you don't care for it that's well and good but to lambaste it could cause
>hurt to someone who likes it but feels they would be considered a fool for
>having such a bumpkin attitude.

In self defense, i know my post did not lambaste Boston Market. I 
believe that if one knows what one is getting, one may be able to 
find acceptable fast food (well, maybe some folks will never find 
acceptable fast food, but at least some of us can). I was quite 
willing to accept Boston Market's food as what it was, or at least 
what i hoped, which was tasty fast food.

I mentioned reheated poultry flavor. It was there. It is a statement 
of fact. I don't like reheated poultry flavor, and i stated that it 
was personal opinion. I certainly intended to hurt or snub no one. It 
was not a criticism of other people who think Boston Market is ok, 
and if some folks felt it was a personal attack on them, then i 
apologize for using unclear language. Other folks have different 
taste from me and the world would be a boring place indeed if that 
were not so. I very much value heterogeneity, and that extends to 
food.

However, i very much dislike the flavor of reheated poultry. If 
chicken has been cooked then chilled, i will eat it cold rather than 
reheat it, regardless of who cooked it and how. I don't care if it 
was made by MacDonald's or the best SCA Laurel in cooking or Julia 
Child or even if i cooked it myself - i don't reheat chicken. I just 
don't like it reheated. Personal taste. As i hoped i had made clear. 
Hardly a criticism of anyone else who may not mind the flavor of 
reheated poultry.

The vegetables were indeed soggy. I have eaten soggy vegetables at 
other places and will no doubt eat them again. Sometimes i 
inadvertently cook them that way myself, and i eat them. I just 
figured that opening a can at home was just about as quick, 
inexpensive, and possibly less soggy.

>When posting something, please watch your words or attitudes. If you write
>something please think that you may be insulting or hurting one of the 80% of
>this list who never post and that is usually because they feel they wouldn't
>be worthy of contributing becuase they go to McDonalds or somesuch.

I hoped my post would inform others that
(1) Boston Market is indeed still in business under that name but 
owned by a different corporation, although some outlets have been 
closed,
(2) the poultry tasted reheated - if that bothers you don't eat it, 
if it doesn't bother you then you won't mind,
and
(3) sometimes you can find other sources of fast food for the same 
amount of money that is qualitatively better than that served in more 
conventional fast food places.

I did not criticize, nor am i criticizing folks, who choose to eat 
there. I don't think i gave that impression, but if i did, i 
apologize.

We on this list all eat a wide range of foods for a wide range of 
reasons. We each have different standards and different needs, and 
for many of us, our standards can be variable in different 
situations. People on this list live in many different kinds of 
places. Some of us have access to a wide range of foodstuffs, others 
have more limited sources. Some of us live where there are 
communities of people from many parts of the world, others of us live 
where the communities are less varied. We each have different cooking 
experiences, different levels of skill, different personal 
expectations. Some of us have more money to spend than others (i 
don't have much myself), and no matter how much money any one of us 
may have, we have different priorities for spending it. I certainly 
don't expect everyone (or even anyone else on the planet) to make the 
same choices or have the same opinions i do. But if i have a choice 
or opinion, i like to to be clear why, if the topic is under 
discussion.

That's one thing i think is good about the SCA - people with a wide 
range of expectations and desires can get together. Some folks will 
always wear polyester and eat modern food. Others choose to be as 
historically accurate as possible. And there is a broad spectrum in 
between. Yet even with these many differences, we can all play 
together and have fun (ok, so not all of the people all of the time, 
but at least some of the people some of the time :-)

*** Back to the topic of fast food ***

I've eaten my share of fast food in the last couple years or so 
because i'm in a small Ren Fair guild, we travel as a convoy, and the 
gang needs to eat on the road to and from fairs. I have no car and 
must depend for rides on others whose preferences are not my own. I 
just like to know what to expect so i can make choices suitable to my 
personal taste.

For example, I just came back from West Kingdom Crown Tournament and 
my consort and i ate fast-ish food both going and returning.

On the way to Crown, we stopped at Denny's. I ordered french fries 
with melted grated cheese and crumbled bacon. I often have the 
chicken Caesar salad, but Friday night i wanted something warm. When 
i got it, the fries were barely room temperature and because they 
were cold the cheese hadn't melted. We had waited at least 30 minutes 
for them in a restaurant without many customers. It was around 10 PM 
and we really wanted to get to the site and set up our pavilion, so i 
ate them without complaining to the staff. It wasn't the waitress's 
fault. She had come to our table twice to say she didn't know what 
was taking the kitchen so long. So again i say, i didn't expect 
gourmet, but i at least expected the fries to be hot. Were my 
expectations snobbish?

On the way back, we had eaten no lunch and it was almost 5 PM. We 
stopped at a Baker's Square, again solidly middle American food. I 
ordered beef stew. It wasn't particularly good, but it was exactly 
what i expected it to be, no unanticipated surprises. It hit the spot.

While i admit to being something of a food snob, i am not utterly 
rigid. While i prefer not eat at Taco Bell, i can generally find 
something i'm willing to eat at KFC (but not fried chicken), Mickey 
D, Jack in the Box, and some other places if that is where the driver 
wants to stop.

My post was merely meant to point out that there are differences in 
quality in fast food, and that one can sometimes find good food at a 
specialty shop (which most folks think of as expensive) for the same 
price as similar food at a fast food stop.

My consort always complains about me bringing a cooler (to keep the 
fresh vegetables crisp and the yogurt and milk cold), a camp stove 
(which i share with others in the encampment), and a range of 
peri-oid or period foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He'd be 
content with fast food, donuts and canned chili. He doesn't 
understand why i care about food quality and why i bother to cook 
period food. He doesn't care much and he wouldn't bother. Yet we are 
still consorts.

Anahita al-shazhiyya
i hope a not so evil list member
still not queen of the West