America's Food Habits

I pondered an interesting question the other day: What does what we eat say about us? On a grander scale, what does what or how Americans eat say about us? I've mentioned my frustration with the new Jack-n-the Box being crowded 24/7 with lines of cars circling the drive thru. You know my general take on chain restaurants and their desire to push you out of their restaurant. Are you seeing the general theme yet? Think about this scenario, have you ever been at a restaurant and felt rushed as they bring out your entree when you're still eating your salad? Have you craned your neck trying to get the waiter's attention for your check because you're in a rush to leave? We lack patience, whether it be the waiter pushing us through our meal or our desire to quickly gulp down dinner. Life happens much too fast here. We're used to getting information at a high rate of speed. I recently purchased an iPhone and can get any tidbit of information right this second. I love it, but I'm spoiled by it.
Unfortunately, this attitude affects the way we eat. We want our food right now. We hate to wait for things to materialize. What's wrong with waiting? What's the downside of patience? When things get done quickly, they're often done in a sloppy manner. The end-result: a poorly made house, a botched surgery, a junky PC, or a less than appetizing meal. Patience can pay off. Waiting can win out. Who has ever told you their best meal was enjoyed after pulling out of the drive thru? What amazingly delicious thing came out of the microwave? Spend a day and gather some fresh ingredients and prepare a multi-course meal at home. Go out to a restaurant that respects your time, and enjoy a slow meal.
Some of the best moments in life occur when we slow down and wait. We hear things we never heard before, we smell new things, and experience tastes previously unknown. Perhaps, you'll learn a bit more about yourself and someone else. Relax.

New Rant

With all of the food being served and made this holiday season, we inevitably deal with leftovers. Part of this is related to our desire to make more food than is necessary. There is the fear of not having enough food for people. I fall into this fear, but I wonder if this is somewhat of an American concept. We tend to view quantity as the important factor instead of quality. I recently visited Maggiano's Italian restaurant for a work-related lunch. For those of you unfamiliar with this place, it specializes in large portions. One of its notable traits is the family-style dining option it offers. My problem with this restaurant is the obsession to serve large amounts of food. I'm not sure that I've ever seen someone leave this place without a doggy bag. With such large portions, they tend to skimp on quality, and I'm not sure how they couldn't. This brings me back to leftovers. Most food is not meant to be reheated, and therefore, doesn't taste as good. Sadly, we have a fridge full of leftovers in which most will be thrown out. I don't like drying out meat in the microwave or hardening pasta. What's the solution, less is more? I'm not sure, but I hope to not get obsessed with quantity and lose my sight on quality.

Holiday Eating

Attending all of the parties this time of year and seeing all of the Christmas specials on the Food Network, I'm reminded just how many unique foods there are this time of year. To be quite honest, I never think of Christmas as being a time of particularly wonderful food, but I am now thinking of it as a time of great nostalgic food. This time of year presents so many great food memories for me. Many of them revolve around desserts of course. Sugar cookies and Buckeyes are my favorite remembered foods. Although, some other greats that my mom used to make include, Hungarian Horns, Candy Cane Cookies, and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies. Even though Buckeyes are a real pain to make, having to individually roll these sticky peanut butter concoctions by hand, and later hand-dip each ball in chocolate, the taste of the chocolate/peanut butter combination is well worth the effort. Simple things like fudge and sugar cookies are exciting this time of year. These tastes take me back many years to the excitement of the pending day. I love the memories these foods create and hope you are enjoying creating your own for years to come.

Thanksgiving

So this is the big eating day. We're supposed to feast on tons of food. All people do is talk about how much they ate and how they are stuffed. I ask this though, is this the best we got? I am very unimpressed with the food at Thanksgiving. In fact, I can't ever remember liking much of what's on the table. I can't get excited about turkey. Maybe it's because I have never had it prepared in an interesting way. Sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole? Not our best effort. Sweet potatoes are too sweet for dinner. Stuffing is usually too dry or too salty. Cranberry sauce is just a horrible idea. Green bean casserole contains no natural ingredients. The entire dish can be created from cans. I find myself not stuffing myself silly. To me, this food is not anything to get worked up about. I propose something new for Thanksgiving. In the spirit of the holiday, we should make food that we are thankful for. What food do you really enjoy? What food are you thankful for and would like to share with others?

Sick

I've been fighting bronchitis, so it's been a while since my last post. Being sick sucks. Aside from the aspect of being tired and feeling like crap, your appetite gets ruined. I didn't feel like eating anything for quite a while and nothing appealed. It was rough to know I should eat, but not feel like eating. I didn't have a craving for a nice meal at a restaurant or even a greasy hamburger from a dive. I'm still barely back to normal. I want to want food again. You ever have that sore throat or nasty stomachache that forces you to eat applesauce or Saltines? It's rough to drink tons of water and eat popsicles. My normal diet has been disturbed. Stomach issues are the worst because you're limited to eating things that only taste okay coming back up.
As for Thanksgiving food, I'm not worried about missing anything. I get no excitement for any of the food offered on this upcoming holiday. Mashed potatoes are about the only thing that excite me, and I won't be eating them this year. What are your Thanksgiving food musts?

More Rants

Sorry, for the time since my last post, I have been under the weather. I have issues with fast food commercials and Olive Garden commercials. Must we be bombarded with horrible ads featuring morons wanting something more exciting than a burger? How about a wave of water soaks you and you're left with some nasty old shrimp and questionable white fish? That's right, try Long John Silvers!! Has this place killed any people like Jack-n-the-Box? If they haven't, I'm shocked. I am so scared of the food they serve. I would rather eat a boring burger than some random mix of chum that a shark rejected. Oh, and congratulations to the people that decided to combine Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. Now, rather than having to avoid all 3 of them, I can avoid one building with all three. It's like a food court where every choice is a losing one. KenTacoHut. How about a Gordita with cheese stuffed crust and some biscuits?
Now for Olive Garden. Really? You send your chefs to a cooking school in Italy? How many things are wrong with that sentence? First, they are not chefs. Chefs go to a school, chefs have a lot of skill. Cooks perform menial tasks, they combine ingredients, they follow orders. Second, what affiliation would Olive Garden have with Italy? Clearly, their food has no affiliation with anything in Italy. Yes, they do use Italian words to describe their food, but that's about it. I have not been to a restaurant in Italy that serves endless bread sticks or salad. Also, their commercials are nauseating. "I bring my Italian grandmother to Olive Garden every time she comes here." Why? Do you hate your grandmother? Do you want her to see how far behind in cooking we are? Who is buying this?
I'm done. . . for now.

My Place

"Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name." I have always wanted to have my restaurant that I always frequent. You know, the type of place where you know all of the waiters, they recognize you by name. Maybe they even know what dishes you prefer. It would kind of be like my own Cheers. Perhaps many of us want this type of place. I remember that throughout college my roommates and I looked for a coffee shop (despite the fact that none of us liked coffee) similar to that in Seinfeld. We wanted a place where we could all meet. Somewhere we could say, "Hey, meet me at the coffee shop." We thought we found the place, we went there once, and no one liked it. I'm sure it's harder when you live out in the suburbs and there is a high turnover in staff, but I really hope to find that place. If I were to open a restaurant, I would want to know my customers on a first-name basis. The closest thing I have right now is a barber who knows my name, and that feels pretty good. Perhaps, it's really simple on my part. I just want recognition, but I know I'm not alone. I think many of us want this place. That place where we feel like old friends catching up again. That place where it's like hanging out in the neighborhood. Maybe we've watched Norm one too many times and wanted our own Frasier to listen to our problems.