SC - don't cringe too bad....
lilinah at earthlink.net
lilinah at earthlink.net
Mon Mar 27 13:30:00 PST 2000
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
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