[Sca-cooks] Meat and potatoes

[Patricia Dunham]

Hmm, I got a slightly different impression, just as awful, or maybe worse...

Susan said "a platter of fish". That sounds to me more like the serving dish, rather than the guest's personal plate. Frankly, I find the idea of throwing out food someone ELSE has cooked, at THEIR home, WITHOUT CHECKING FIRST!, even more inexplicably rude! I wonder if the gormless-guest thought she was helping clean up after the meal? As people will appropriately do, sometimes. BUT! 

I do hear that Americans are wretchedly wasteful of food. (not in this house! we don't buy what we don't eat, and we almost never buy more than we can cook, eat or freeze at any given time (well, occasionally fruit or veg languish in the frig' past edibility)) 

Anyway, I wonder if this was a case of the "guest" deciding that since SHE didn't like it, nobody else would, so throw it away? Or perhaps "guest" herself never eats leftovers, so of course you throw it away (!) ...

Like I said, the possibilities are almost even more horrible than simple dunder-head American self-centeredness!

chimene

On Mar 5, 2014, at 1:00 PM, Susan Lord Williams wrote:

> Here in South America, the other night a guest from USA took a platter of fish (a 15th century recipe, which was excellent) to the kitchen and threw it out. When I discovered this I explained to her that although it was not to her liking my poor cleaning lady would loved it.