monkeyc

Ok i might be missing the point but I am an aussie and from where i sit as a disinterested person it seems like theres a little bit of political correctness gone mad here - frankly I dont see it as the slightest bit offensive at all, i think theres just some people who lilke making mountains out of molehills.. Mind you one of the most popular cheeses here is called Coon which is australian slang (and offensive slang) for an Aboriginal Person (and the cheese has been around for decades) - yet when a self serving activist tried to get it banned he failed completely because no one, not even the aboriginees who were supposed to be offended, cared. As more than one person put it - Its just cheese. We can be far too sensitive to this stuff and frankly political correctness in all its forms has gone way too far, its about time we all stood up and said enough is enough. EDIT : and apparently the New Zealanders arent offended by the Kiwi shoe polish either nor are the Japanese by the Jap pumpkin but im told theres some concern over the use of the 'American' hot dog label because people might think theyre made with real americans.....

The fact that the Atkins 'craze' is being blamed for the closing of bakeries and the llike is deeply concerning - we are starting to see it here and frankly its a deeply worrying issue, at least one state government in australia has talked about banning the whole thing. My wife managed to loose a lot of weight on atkins, at the expense of her general health and then yo yo'd back up in weight even more after it - and from others i talk to this is not unusual , when a diet starts affecting basic food stores you have to wonder what the long term effects will be, especially when looking at Dr Atkins weight when he died. Healthy food and good food eaten in moderation and combined with exercise and intelligence will result in far more weight loss than fad crazes - so many people know this yet we are seeing bakeries close because people are being sucked into the belief that you can cheat the system and avoid things like boring old exercise with diet.. It should be ringing a lot of alarm bells.. Forgive me the rant its just that as in so many things American we are sure to follow them in Australia and theres times where it gets a bit hard to take, our supermarkets are already over flowing with tasteless and nutritionless foods and we are suffering the same obesity problems among children that the US has thanks to fast food giants pushing junk onto kids and now our bakeries are threatened as well? God help us

Alive and well here in Australia - theres one in pretty much every suburb and we also have seen a rise in organic bakeries - theres one up the road from me at work that does the best bread and organic pastries with real farm fresh cream and organic jams and fillings. We also have seen the rise of several succesfull franchise bakery and patisserie chains such as Bakers Delight, brumbies and Michels Patisserie. Bakers delight in particular produces excellent bread and uses no preservatives or artifical flavours or colors in their products and makes pretty good old fashoined bread (you know the sort that actually goes stale after a day or 2 not keeps for weeks like some sort of mutated bread like product) Perhaps its an Aussie thing but bakeries are the norm here with most making their own pies and the like as well - then again the hot meat pie is something of an aussie icon (covered in tomato sauce) so perhaps thats it.

I tend to think of comfort food as the sort of food my mother used to cook or my grandparents cooked. Perhaps it's growing up in the bush but for me comfort food is stuff like the Sunday Roast with all the trimmings (roast beef preferably) or a nice juicy steak off the BBQ with salads or maybe mums rissoles and mashed potato with tomato and onion gravy. Thats what I think of when i go to comfort food, and funnily enough when I am away for work its what i like to try and order if I have worked a long day and dont feel like going out for dinner - and do not get me started on hotel room service menus - comfort food for me in hotels is stuff like hamburgers, steak sandwiches, steak and chips etc and the current need to turn every room service menu into 'fusion' cusine is pathetic - lets face it folks lukewarm steak sangers are ok lukeworm peking duck on a bed of noodles isnt... (well to my mind)

What a place for a first post.. Anyway its interesting to read the comments, I travle frequently for business in Australia and overseas and I often dine alone, generally I get treated pretty wekll but there are occasions where the experience is frustrating and down right bad - the common ones (which other people have mentioned) are being seated at bad tables, not being offered the wine list, being offered sympathy from the wait staff (this is really embarrassing and it can happen a lot) and restaurants that look down their nose at you when you have the temerity to read a book or work. The funny thing is that in australia tipping isnt normal, nor is it expected as wait staff are paid wages, however i will always tip for good service and generally do so in cash if its an expense account meal and when I am travelling and eating its always expense account and my employer doesnt have a per diem so i can spend what i like on food - bad service is guaranteed to ensure i wont spend much and i wont tip - if i get lousy service from a restuarant then i wont have dessert there or coffee, i find somewhere else. But i have to say its uncommon to get bad service just because you are dining alone, my experience is that bad service is bad service whether theres one or 20 of you. oh and to the person who said its about money and that airlines dont make profits dont kid yourself - airlines ALWAYS make profits, regardless of what they build into their balance sheets in write downs, those that dont go broke fast. Likewise i could care what your food cost is and if youd rather seat a 4 top, im here and im your customer so you can serve me or i will find somewhere else.