SC - don't cringe too bad....

[Michael Newton]

All this talk about Boston Market is making me Hungry and I don't have one
within 75 miles of me. Please stop talking about Chicken, I don't even have
a KFC close.

thorbjorn
NE IOWA.
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <lilinah at earthlink.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2000 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: SC - don't cringe too bad....


> 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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