Moopheus

So if they decided that a rat-poison burger would sell best, you'd be okay with that? Sure, Hardee's is in business to make money, but there's no sacred law that says they're totally absolved of responsibility for that product or that any action is okay as long is it makes a profit. Sure, Hardee's would like it to be that way, and the food industry spends a small fortune on lobbyists to get as close as they can to that. Hardee's management is obligated to make as much money as they can for the stockholders, but no one else is, not consumers, not the government. Consumers should do whatever they can to look out for their own interests, and if doing so makes it harder for Hardee's to sell a few more thickburgers, tough nuts for them.

Actually, I get that there are probably people who genuinely benefit from these things, for various reasons. It's just they they're marketed that strikes me as absurd. They're trying to convince everyone who sees the ad that these functions are just intrinsically really difficult.

The wife and I were in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago, and we went for a stroll down Mass Ave, and noticed that the old Necco factory had been changed to a Novartis factory. The sugary/chocolatey smell that used to hang in the air around there was gone. When did this happen? Is the factory on Cambridge street down by Lechemere also gone?

I have to say I laugh when I see these sorts of commercials that make it look like grating cheese or whatever is the most difficult task in the world. I think Cook's Illustrated actually tested that stirrer and decided it wasn't really worth the money.

One that I've been turning to more frequently lately is Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons. It's saved me a few times when I really had no good idea what to do with what I had to use up in the fridge.

The cheap machines are probably no good for restaurant service, but a small machine is just fine for most home users. I often make batches as small as a pint, eating it straight out of the machine without even hardening it. Even a cheap machine can make ice cream as good or better than almost anything you can buy; with ice cream the ingredients you use are far more important than the type of machine.

If you want to make low-fat ice milk, try adding a little nonfat dry milk powder to the mix (maybe 4 or 5 percent by weight).

There was a recent thread about the KitchenAid attachment. I've been pretty happy with the Krups, though I haven't tried making two consecutive batches with it. One batch is usually enough. Out on the counter on a hot day I doubt it will keep cold enough for two, unless your house is very well air conditioned. In my apt it will start to thaw before even one batch is done. It is small enough to run in the freezer, and then it is still quite cold when finished. I suppose if you don't use hot water to clean it out between batches, you could run it several times that way.

Mousse does not require gelatin. Gelatin is sometimes used when a very firm mousse is needed or if it is going to sit around unrefrigerated for a while. Personally, I don't like the gumminess of it and like mousse better without. Bavarian cream is usually custard-based. I've used pasteurized egg white powder to make mousse, meringues, even genoise (added to some yolks I had to use up) without too much difficulty. Some egg white products in cartons, such as Simply Eggs and others, cannot be whipped and say so on the package.

I seem to recall that this sort of thing happened when I was in school, which was a more than a few <cough, cough> years ago, so maybe my memories are not good. Bulk containers of cereal were always available in the dining hall. We'd eat it. Food was a continuous blur of cereal, pop-tarts, pizza, and mystery-meat pucks.

This is my problem too. I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I'm a committed dessertetarian, and admit that when desserts are on offer my standards will tend to drop a bit and will eat way more than I should, borderline compulsively, really.

Me too, so I got the optional outboard motor for my Pasta Queen. It's a lot easier (and faster) to feed the dough through the machine with both hands free.

I was thinking of doing that this year (being the veg that comes to dinner); but our family dinner usually includes ravioli in any case. A couple of years ago I made an eggplant parmesan (recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone) that went over well--my aunt's mother-in-law also brought one but mine was the one that got eaten.

This book is a good introduction to making and using seitan. Making it is vastly cheaper than buying it premade. I agree with Malawry--don't emphasize substituting for meat, emphasize good tasty food. Protein doesn't only come from meat. Talking about basic nutritional issues (like how much protein you really need to eat, and where it comes from) would be good.

I've been cooking pretty seasonally this year--we joined the local CSA, so what we eat is whatever came from the farm that week. And the quantity of food is sufficient that I don't have to buy much else. However, after our season ends in November, I'll have to go back to shopping again.

You might want to read this previous thread about chefs leaving restaurants. In the circumstance you describe, I can't imagine the person you were baking for having any legitimate claim on the recipes you were using.

Are we there yet?

Hee Haw.

This sort of thing happens routinely in the Boston area too. I suppose national press organizations assume that no one outside of the area knows anything about the area, but peope who live there do it too. It's annoying but not surprising in the least that Forbes would do this.

I use a lot of Goya canned chickpeas.

"Now we see the violence inherent in the system!" Now that I think about it, at the school where I work, more than a few of the chef-instructors are women, and more than a few of them are French, but off the top of my head I don't think there's any overlap between those two sets.

Not to mention travel time. Time to go to a restaurant, wait for a table, wait to be served, etc., is likely not shorter than cooking, though generally perceived to be less work. "I just don't feel like cooking tonight" is as good a reason to go out as any. Even fast food restaurants can be slow at busy times. Of course a lot of people eat some meals out because they are already out for other reasons, such as lunch during the work day. Another thing to consider is that most people do not choose cooking or not cooking exclusively, but may choose one or the other at various times.

I think both, to varying degrees, which is partly why I said "perceived time issue." People think they're busier, and want to spend less time in the kitchen, regardless of how busy they really are. As you say, it's somewhat a matter of priorities, and food can be low on the totem pole. For me, the kitchen is a high priority; I like to cook, and the kitchen is one place where I can "do my own thing" without external restriction, and I like having control over what I eat. Shal: I understand Cost-Benefit Analysis, but I think you misapplied it here. Since most people have kitchens regardless of how much or how well they use them, it seems unlikely that the cost of the kitchen itself is much of a factor in whether people decide to cook or eat out.

And also people aren't just choosing between cooking and eating out, but also between cooking and using convenience and processed foods. Which is clearly a time issue, or at least a perceived time issue, since many processed foods are not really a good value compared to making from scratch. So they're using the kitchens they've paid for, but the goal is to spend as little time as possible in them.

Of course "most people", even in manhattan, do not live in million dollar apartments. Not even close. Nor is there really a choice of liquidating the equity value of their kitchens. (Can imagine the conversation: "What do you think, dear, should we sell the kitchen, invest in T-bills, and eat out every meal for the rest of our lives? Heck, for that matter, why don't we sell the whole house, and live in a hotel and order room service? Economically, it makes no sense to own anything; just invest enough money to buy everything new every day.")