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I don't agree that morality is somehow out of bounds in discussions about commerce, which is what the piece addresses. Food-related commerce. The question is not of whether morality has a place in these discussions but how to hang on to as much tolerance as possible. And I thought this piece reinforced an us-vs-them mentality, which was not helpful. The thing is: I DON'T KNOW why Buffy von Snoot bought the $13 long-stemmed strawberries at Mollie Stone. I DON'T KNOW why that "diverse" family bought Hot Pockets at FoodCo. I don't need to know Buffy von Snoot, or like her, or like what's in her cart. And you know why? Because there's SHAKE 'N BAKE in mine. Underneath the PLanet detergent and free-range chicken. That's right -- I LIKE SHAKE 'N BAKE. I eat SHAKE 'N BAKE, I don't make my own crumb coating from organic flour, Acme bread crumbs and spices harvested by unionized native peoples and transported by solar-powered sailing vessels with happy happy unionized rowing crews. And I shake it up in a NONRECYCLABLE PLASTIC BAG. *** My opinion remains that the piece set up straw figures -- the yuppie, bobo, elitist, richbitch, insert your faceless villian here -- to knock them down. This thread has been so much more interesting than the op-ed. And just because I don't agree with something in the op-ed doesn't mean I think it shouldn't have been written or published.

My point is that in the name of not being judgemental, the op-ed was judgemental. As I said earlier, ahem, I don't buy organic produce to make anybody feel inferior. But OF COURSE I think it's better. Or I wouldn't be buying it. I may rail against discrimination in one arena and be quite proud of being discriminating in another.

Thanks for pointing that out. You don't know what's going on with that person who bought the "wrong" food. I've got a physical disability that makes trekking around to farmer's markets/stores too ardous (and expensive since pub transit is inaccessible) so I order food in a lot. Had to get over my ingrained idea that I'm lazy.

For what it's worth, when I lived in Mt. Pleasant in DC, a predominantly Latino and working class neighborhood, 15 years ago, I shopped at its only grocery store, Bestway. I did in fact have a college degree but it was in philosophy, which is Latin for "love of bargain bins." Bestway had excellent quality/prices on certain stuff -- plantains, masa harina, avocados stand out in my mind -- but when it was bad, it was wretched. Chicken that stank, for example. I'm quite certain the poorest, most academically challenged person imaginable would have preferred to shop somewhere other than the Bestway "We Put the Foul in Fowl" chicken aisle. Speaking of getting food to the people: I read a good article about a guy who had a mobile produce shop that brought Farmer's Market-type stuff to neighborhoods without good quality, affordable stuff. I've struggled to figure out what rankles me about the op-ed. The closest I can come is the word, "judgemental." There is often tremendous judgement against poor people who dare buy the "wrong" things, and it really pisses me off when a comfortably fed person nitpicks the Ding-Dongs in a single-mom-working-2-jobs's grocery cart. So you know what? I don't want to hear about the organic doughnut peaches in mine. To parraphrase Frank Drummond in The Naked Gun, "Maybe our problems don't amount to a bag of organic peaches in this crazy world, but this is my bag, and these are my peaches!" Dammit.

Dang, I've tried so hard not to give a serious response to what I considered a not very serious piece about something serious. Seriously. Okay. So we've got some people who pay exorbitant prices for peaches and think this makes them better people than people who buy cheaper peaches. In short: Superficial, pretentious, selfish twits purchase expensive foodstuffs. But: These navel-gazing elitists have their correlates. The folks who are proud that they can't taste the difference between a garden-grown tomato and what's on a Sizzler salad-bar. Complain about the effects of Alice Waters all you want cause I'll come right back with Sandra Lee. My point is -- and I do have one -- is that the op-ed merely points out differences between individuals. Which are nothing new. Food has always been a badge of status. Who doesn't know that? What I found sadly missing was any mention of how good cooks are discriminating shoppers -- no matter where they shop. If the piece wanted to say something meaningful about economic disparity and its effect on human health, there was planty to explore about agribusiness and vertical integration. But, sigh, shooting yuppies in an artisan pickle barrel was so much more FUN.

The MOMA has great posters. I have a girlfriend who met a guy there, it’s still a good place to hook up. My pores look really small under their lights. But if you want to try a grocery store, just remember that your basket has to look fantastic. You will not get a hottie if your basket is spotty. And stay away from pencil-thin anything. Should you become disoriented in the bulk nuts aisle, simply ask yourself, “What would Bono do?” The op-ed made a really great point about shopping. Poor people don’t shop. They buy. It’s totally different. Like Honduran families are different from professorial types.

I am so relieved that someone has dared to tell the world that it it's all about image with me. But I don't care -- Early Girl tomatoes are this season's HOT accessory. Besides, I just read in Cosmo that guys like girls with values, or who at least talk about them. ("Talk Dirty to Him: Environmental Toxins, Soil Depletion, and Factory Farming") This op-ed was so right-on -- I mean, who would want to COOK when she could SHOP? They are so not connected. As if. Okay, so I saw Paris Hilton and Gordon Ramsay buying favas in Whole Foods -- tatsoi is SO last season -- literally -- and seeing them there totally inspired me to buy a bunch of red oak leaf lettuce and make a bonnet of it, like Marie Antoinette did. It looked fabulous -- very sustainable. As long as you spritz me every few hours. It's not like I'm going to eat it or anything. Ohmygod, did you hear? Rancho Gordo's co-branding with Hello! Kitty and I am SUPER JAZZED! I'm so glad somebody finally recognized that FASHION NOT FLAVOR is what keeps this girl going!

I've used a VacuVin quite a bit and thought it worked great. I can only drink maybe one full glass with a meal or I'm feeling it too much, esp on a work night. One bottle can last me more than a week. (Yes, there are advantages to being a miniscule person.) I can't dispute the science cause I don't know it but I've thought the wine tasted better when I created the vacuum. Guess the refrig will help it even more.

My friend just called to give me the bad news, which I hoped was just a rumor. No dice. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfra...25/daily13.html What's next? Velveeta buys Cow Girl Creamery? Wonder acquires Acme Bread? Sandra Lee starts judging the Bocuse d'Or?

What with Hell's Kitchen and NR both on Monday nights (if only for a couple of weeks), we need to name this, er, special evening of programming. Suggestions? "Must-Eat TV" is way too tame for these two. How about "Hell and Back Mondays"?

How ironic that she who pimps canned frosting and Velveeta supports the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. Sandra Lee makes me lurv Rachael Ray. And that. Is. Sad.

I get Ton Kiang delivered at home at least a couple of times a week. A decent range of dim sum is available 10 am to 10 pm -- and it's better of course if you go there. Their steamed dumplings of any kind are wonderful, as are their soups and housemade sauces. Any of their whole fish dishes are fantastic, and their wine list is good (by my standards which are admittedly not the most sophisticated). My mother had an oyster clay pot dish there ten or more years ago that she still talks about. I have heard for years that Koi Palace is the best for dim sum, but do plan to wait if you go. For a more impromptu experience, take yourself out of the downtown area to Clement Street. The stretch between Arguello and 7th is chockful of cheap, good places that include Chinese, dim sum, Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese, you name it.

I'm chiming in on the pork shoulder, pork steak, and chicken thigh posts. And don't forget soft polenta, my favorite with saucy meats. One of my favorite soups is a non-dairy potato that I start with bacon fat and chicken bones ($1 for 5 lbs.). Cheap, cheap cabbage, tons of it, is what makes the soup great, along with potatoes (duh) and onions. If you can afford it, fresh sage as well. Serve it with a few croutons, which you make with stale bread. It's the combination of the crunchiness of the croutons, the soft potato, and the broth that makes a single bowl of soup a satisfying meal for me. My best advice is to plan your meals around textural contrast as much as flavors. I have friends who live happily on beans-and-rice, lentils, oatmeal, etc. -- which is great -- but I would be very unhappy with the unremitting mushiness of it all, no matter what they taste like. A sprinkle of chopped raw onion can add so much more than a boost of flavor.

I worked on Haight St and lived in Cole Valley for many years so know the Pork Store, Burgermeister, Magnolia very well. They're all...meh, strangely salty and/or too thick. I'm not an overstuffed-sandwich person in general, and prefer a higher bun-meat ratio than many. My last Mel's burger last month was a disaster -- greasy, crumbly. The Home Burger had a stale bun and, at $8.95, was not a bargain. Bill's on Clement was another ...meh. Al's, a sliver of a place on Irving between 8th and 9th, has a surprisingly tasty burger for just a few bucks. Fries are good, too. Burger Joint (both Haight and Mission locations) has a nice, simple, Niman-Ranch burger I like. Juicy, not too thick, and nice milkshakes. Tony's Cable Car on Geary has a decent burger. My winner is...don't scream...In-N-Out. Any location. I mean, please. A burger there is, what?, $1.59? Not that the price is the point, but it sure doesn't hurt. And I truly prefer these burgers to the others in taste. I think it's hard, in these troubled times, to believe in a tasty burger, widely available, that's CHEAPER than the multitude of inferior burgers being pawned off on innocents every day. Calvin Trillin said that he doesn't trust a bbq place that uses plates. My theory in regard to burgers is that good burgers -- honest, ungussied, foie-free burgers -- are ordered at a counter. It's not a foolproof theory but as CT also says, sometimes you have to play the odds.

The NY Times had a hotdog article a while back (sorry, it's not avbl) that explained that dogs sold as Gray's, Sabrett's, etc., are actually the same dogs all produced, I believe, in Jersey. Interesting, mais non? Now, I love me some sausages and I salute the many fine varieties mentioned upthread, but while all hotdogs are sausages, not all sausages are hotdogs. And this topic is the hotdog. Somebody mentioned Top Dog in Berkeley. My current favorite is a What's Up Dog, produced by a SF guy who loved Top Dog but got sick of the bridge traffic he had to endure to get to TD. His dogs have a great snap, lots of garlic, and like the very best of anything, are within walking distance of my office. They're grilled, and I eat them w/ plain old mustard and raw onion. They're a mix of beef/pork. Some folks here like his corndogs, and we all fully support the garlic fries. I keep saying I'm going to try the other sausages, like the Calabrese, but haven't so far.

I was baffled by this episode -- thought Kora should have lost her first battle and won this one. She presented a coherent menu -- a celebration of humble yet great street foods using humble yet great ground beef. Only her pizza elicited negative comments, and her presentation, while a tad cutesy, was far more creative than Kerry's. WTF? His burger looked greasy, his consomme showcased rich chicken stock rather than hamburger (the secret ingredient was reduced to being a TOOL for the dish), and this wasn't ice cream battle, either. OT -- does Kerry look like Mark Wahlberg or what?

Wow, I'm so out of it. I had no idea Jeanty HAD a steak place. We had lunch at Bistro Jeanty last Saturday and my friend had the steak frites. Oh. My. God. Even though she ordered it medium-well, it was delectable, as were the fries and Bearnaise. (I even got to hear two previously unknown-to-each-other friends say. "Don't get saucy with me, Bearnaise!" simultaneously.) Fortunately, the steak was huge so we had to "help" her out with it.

My last post gave me the idea to go have some more heavy cream (and berries, ok!) and I consumed said snack while watching the last part of a profile of sexual behavior researcher A.C. Kinsey on American Masters. ("Heh, heh, I said 'Masters." "Shut up, Butthead.") Findings: 1. How sad that my most notable guilty pleasure these days involves the contents of a cheap cereal bowl. 2. Most Americans experience heavy cream at least once in their lives despite societal pressure to use 1%. 3. Regarding peoples' consumption of heavy cream and berries, on a scale of one to six, with berries at one end and heavy cream at the other: Most people fall somewhere in the middle. Very people consume all berries, or all heavy cream. Back to the lab.

Heavy cream drunk out of the bowl after I finished the berries.

"Jack Bourdain: Rapscallion, hash-slinger, ladies' man. Courvoisier drinker since 1975." (Sorry, there's just something about the name Jack.)

too kind (MOVE YOUR ASS!)

Gearing up for another exciting episode. Random notes to file: kittysf does not respond to "MOVE YOUR ASS!" roommatesf does not respond to "MOVE YOUR ASS!" There needs to be a HK drinking game called Move Your (Gl)Ass!, based on utterance of you-know-what. I swear he sounds like my mother yelling at us kids when we had her at the end of her rope. And speaking of dear old Mum...Gordon Ramsay would be peerless in full-on drag; the image of him bellowing whilst wearing Monty Pythonesque curlers and a housecoat is more delicious than a plate of his ri-sotto. Carry on!

I felt my best ever in Japan where I ate miso, fish, seaweed, rice and a wee bit of fruit for breakfast, starting with green tea and finishing with black coffe. (Caffeine addiction transcends cultures.) My grandfather and father in Hamburg plied me with salami, rye bread, butter, beer and coffee. Not bad. Love masala dosas (sp?). Love poached eggs on toast. Cannot abide doughnuts, pastries, pancakes with syrup, etc. Not averse to a nice ham and cheese on rye to start my day. When I die and go to heaven, as I surely will, there will be dim sum carts wheeling up to my bed every morning.

Thought this was just me...mmm...volcanic pie filling...."Caution: Filling May Be Hot" indeed! Mentioned recently on another thread: Popeyes' onion rings The old KFC original. Man, even the bucket was finger-lickin good when it had been full of that stuff.

My mom puts lemon juice and cinnamon in all her baked fruit desserts. Just don't use too much, and there'll be a subtle depth from the cinnamon and the acid will balance the sweet. I'm getting cherries in my produce box for the first time this week!