Carrot Top

As usual, I have to admire what seems to me to be both clarity of thought and thorough coverage of the situation in Rogov's post. How could there be more to say? Expectations. But then, in thinking more, and in reading the part of Bux's post that you included in your question, GG, my mind wanders off a bit to a more global picture....and here is where it lands. Is it possible to separate the final perceived performance of the chef...from the performance of the service staff and management of the restaurant? Is it all about the chef? Or is the true and final experience of the meal actually a product of some sort of teamwork...each facet affecting the other...to reach the final culmination of how the guest enjoys (or not) the food at table...

I do wonder what the 'breakdown' would be...of people who if asked on a daily basis where they wanted to eat...whether more would say a place that offered the simpler basic things, perfectly prepared....or whether more would say a place that aimed higher in terms of creativity et al... That would be fun to find out.... What it would 'mean'? Who knows. Just fun to find out...

Mmm hmm. In terms of desiring creativity, or a higher technical level of artistic knowledge, yes...that could certainly be something that someone would wish to see in a chef. But...in a chef that chose to prepare the more simpler offerings of food, I would expect that they be able to do it with a better and clearer technical precision than the usual home cook...starting with taking the time and effort to procure the best ingredients available. This sort of time and effort for a simple meal is not generally taken by the home cook...and it might be that, as a chef spends ten or twelve hours a day doing just this job...and has focused a great deal of time in attaining technical precision...the final result should sing. Including equipment issues. Most home cooks do not have the access to the same quality equipment or pots/pans etc. that a professional kitchen would. But having said all this, if one can match say...what one might find in terms of taste and quality that a simpler offering from a well-considered fine dining restaurant might have...then by golly! Definitely eat at home. The chairs are more comfortable, always. Not to mention the price.

In total agreement with you. For all sorts of reasons it is important.

It doesn't sound too simple at all to me, arielle. It sounds like care was taken in thinking of taste combinations, attention was given to what the tummy and tongue are really in the mood for, and balance was considered in the overall scheme. Prepared with technical skill...that is a meal fit for any demanding hungry person that was interested. Sometimes (in my opinion often) simplicity can be the best.

Didn't this used to be called 'sophistry' in studies of rhetoric? And wasn't it considered...just plain wrong and inethical...to use sophistry in any rhetorical argument?

Thanks, JC. These walks sound fascinating and beautiful!

So tell me. How could 'Last Tango in Paris' have been made without butter? I ask you.

Thank you, Maggie. I look forward to the cookbooks and hope they have some good seafood recipes. By the way...have you ever heard the saying..."Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes" (Don Marquis)? A favorite of mine....

Do you think that a book should be written with okra as a magnificent, quiet, yet powerfully courageous symbol of family life in the South...sort of like 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' but instead of that weedy tree that grows everywhere...okra as the definitive symbol? ( ) No, sorry. Let's make that Okra. Capitalized, please.

Well, yes. There has been...but only in places where there is lots of sunshine, good olive oil and garlic. Other places, with rain and cold and just onions and turnips, need butter to make life worth living.

Difficult. And hard to define taken out of context...and each context is different. We were speaking 'great chefs' previously...my mind is stuck there, so... 1.Spark..something magical...indefineable. A vision...an approach...an offering that only that individual person can or does offer, translated into a meal through... 2. The amount of attention and care that is shown in the food through... 3. Technical capabilities and through... 4. Ability to instill the specific vision and technical capabilities in their staff for consistency. This is probably the most boring-looking list I've ever written, but I know you are anxious to get the talk going, Melissa...and I often feel that way, so here I will just offer up my boring list. There is a lot more, but let me go take a nap, for I've bored myself to sleep. Will try again later...

That is an understatement, or so I've been led to believe. Isn't okra one of those plants that can take over the garden if you give it half a chance? I would guess that in France, it simply is not a 'traditional' vegetable. I have heard that fresh corn (maize) is still thought of as cattle feed at best in parts of Europe...

It has been my motto over the years to never believe 'studies'. Because for every study that says one thing...just wait three years and they will have another come up that shouts out the opposite at you. Butter always seemed better, to my eyes and nose. Fresh...sweet...delicious. Margarine always seemed rather frightening. Packed up in plastic day-glo packages with gamboling cows smiling gleeful grimaces. Oily. Tasteless or else tasting of vaseline. Eggs? Who would ever choose an egg white over a perfectly golden yellow yolk, waiting to overflow happily onto your tongue? And who would ever believe those things in cardboard pour boxes are anything like eggs? Butter. Eggs. Yes.

I suspect that if we start arguing the true origin of words we could fill a zillion volumes. Words do morph and change meanings over time and with cultural changes. Since the beginning of time, people have felt the urge to travel and explore other lands...and their languages and foods came along with them, to become parts of other languages and mixed up with other foods to create new things. The wonder of creation and exchange. It is good to know where a thing started...and what it was when born. It is also good to see it grow and change. Both can be appreciated, and hopefully both can be accepted and smiled upon by those that watch with interest and curiosity about both new and old. Canned okra in France, huh? Well, then. Let us snap our trouser suspenders proudly here in the USA....

Okay with me...! Can't wait to see what people think and feel....

Thanks, Rogov. You have earned my undying devotion.

I had to sit with this idea overnight...just to be sure you weren't trying to trick me into something, Busboy... but...I'm almost 'there' in agreeing with you on this. Please don't take my lack of further commentary on this as lack of interest, for I would like to see how this plays out in terms of discussion and thought on this thread...but my major interest was the 'woman' part, not the 'great' chef part. Ideas, anyone? What defines a 'great chef'?

:laugh: Oh, fifi....like I said...the best use for okra is for endless conversation...and now not only about the thing itself but also about even the WORD!!!!

Beautiful line. (I came back to edit and add a 'smilie' so that my intent would be clear, but there just is not a smilie that would work on this one....) Can someone invent a word for a person that sits reading a thread with their mouth sort of intellectually hanging open in shock and taken-abackness and disbelief and almost-laughing but not? For that is me, here, reading of freegans.

Yes, I can see that. But the door has officially been opened a crack...on these things for those that care and those that would like to see a change. A door with a small crack, no matter how small...is always easier to push open than one that is firmly closed and locked...

What? Regional bias about whose food is better, where, in Italy?! I am shocked, shocked. Will email you, divina...and thanks.

It would seem to me that the decision of whether to have junk food available or not...in this particular case....in the schools, IS something that the parents had a hand in at some point. Changes such as this, even though small, do not happen easily nor quickly in a bureaucratic system such as a school. It was not the faceless 'government' that suddenly decided to do this...I am assuming...but rather, it was the parents and the school board (again, I must assume you have those things in Canada, as we do here) that initiated the change and followed it through to this small finality. One person, making a motion at a school board meeting. That, is where it started. One parent.

I bet okra is expensive in France, bleudauvergne. Is it commonly available in the markets...and how is the price? Well...then of course after writing this I realized I was thinking of okra as an American vegetable, and its home is really Africa. Curious. Probably your imports to France would come from Africa. The profit margin...and the distribution companies...that would be interesting to know about....in terms of whether they are smaller self-owned in Africa vs. our megalith US companies.... Ah well. Who cares. On to my usual cup of toasted okra tea for breakfast....

I hope there's enough time. My costume will be made out of peeled okra skins dried then stuck together with okra juices to keep it integral and honest. There are also the engineering difficulties to work out. As I dance, okra seeds should be gently emitted into the air from the costume, then floating over the audience, to cover them in a soft blanket of star-like sticky little white seeds. The effect of this will leave them pleasantly glued to the floor as they view the rest of the exhibition. Thank you for this opportunity. And now it is time to reveal my secret. For surely you will be understanding. I actually like the glutinous quality of okra. That is the best part of the whole thing, in my opinion. Hah!