Carrot Top

How did Varmint know that? ................................................ Nice tongue, Chris. Big and firm. Definitely not kosher though. I will have to go hunt one up now to throw on the back of my couch. Thank you.

Could this piece, and indeed most of this author's writing, be termed a satire? Was it about food? About "anything culinary at all"? Or was it about the things that food "is" to people perhaps? Some people believe that food is only food, nothing more nothing less. Food. A thing that sits. A thing with no feathers. The Washington Post thought this writing worthy of comment, and apparently lots of people also seem to appreciate it and get the benefit of a good laugh from it. Interesting. Why don't we get to see more of this I wonder? I would rather read this than watch a fast-food training video from some years ago that spoofs how to cook a dead hamburger. It would seem to be something that would bring a more fuller thought level. About food. But that is just my opinion.

It's a pig's stomach of course. I have the same thing in my house but not as gloriously photographed. I drape them over the backs of chairs for a homey look. Nice to cuddle into. Arguable as to whether they are as nice to cuddle into as Yoko's ass might be to some folks, but they don't offer that at the local butcher shop, and that would be the wrong sex for me. Pig's stomachs are acceptable as they are completely sexless. Or so I think.

My best friend of thirty years is native Lithuanian. Displaced as a child during the war to the US. She travels to Lithuania often now. Now being a key word. Her claim is that the long-standing hunger (may I use this word outside of a context that links one-to-one directly to food here I wonder?) of the people for their freedom has led directly to an explosion of ideas and creativity and burning desire to live as they please, and that, for Lithuanians as for many others, has a huge food component within it. They eat very well, poor and rich alike.

as though a Virginian like yourself knows anything about the Alabama 'cue FFB was discussing. Best stick with country ham, my friend. ← I can be the ham. The country folk don't want me though. Life is incredibly difficult.

Yes. You are absolutely correct, Busboy. You are so vastly intelligent that you must have eaten your Wheaties today and also have stayed at whatever hotel it is that gives one Knowledge last night. It is true. One must BE the Southern Barbecue to be able to write about it with any credence.

I can see what you mean, Shalmanese. My own particular focus is aiming towards whatever that thing is popping out from the top. What is that? Does it move?

Surely DNA testing would prove someone right. Isn't there a Barbecue Knowledge Gene that one is either born with or not?

If Yankees can not be counted upon to have the intelligence and presence of mind to be able to study Southern food adequately to write about it, then I would also say that Non-Chefs do not have the same set of things available to them to be able to write about restaurants that are run by Chefs. I take no sides here. Just a thought.

There does not seem to me to be anything wrong at all with discounting the book. Nobody says it needs to be bought, nobody says it even needs to be read. But to demand truth with a capital T from a book of this sort, and then furthermore to demand it in an accusatory and grinding tone, does seem a bit odd. Not to mention unpleasant, unmannerly, and slightly out of whack. I would take a meal made by Doug Psaltis any day, and even would consume a bit of his book, and be made a happier and more nurtured person by either, than I am certainly made by the all-consuming need by some people in this thread to be Right about something they have no direct knowledge of, and True in a category where Truth can often be questionable. Of course, I speak as someone who comes from the Hospitality business.

If Doug Psaltis had not done an effective job of self-promotion from the start, along with performing at a certain level, nobody would have ever heard of him. So the point of self-promotion might be moot. Psaltis wrote a book in partnership with his brother. It is a book about things as he viewed them in a certain time and place. .......................................................... Will this book change the world in any major way? It is doubtful. The only effect I can see is that some people seem to have gotten their knickers in a very painful twist about what he wrote. Will this book affect any of the people he wrote about? Again, it is doubtful that it will. People dine at places for the food and the atmosphere. Or one would hope so, anyway. ................................................................ He was a chef. At a certain level. He wrote a book. He got it published. It is selling. I would advise anyone who has comments to make on what he wrote that in order to be taken as seriously as they take him, they do not just need to read the book. They need to get themselves on the same playing level. Accomplish the five simple steps above, and then you will have some level of credibility in terms of your ongoing criticisms. And of course then you would have had to have been there. Were you?

Fancy title there, wasn't it. In this forum a lot of information has been posted on various ideas within the scope of "The Future of Dining". Yet there is still a question that begs answer. Oh. In the form of a list of sorts, I mean. A simplified list of major determinants. What are the cultural and economic drives both in current existence and which are anticipated in the future that will define the future of "dining"? We can hope all we want for what we each wish. But finally, there have to be some major things that will shape what happens. Theoretically, anyway. For the most part here, we have been speaking of the future of dining on the North American continent, so I'll continue along with my ideas of what these drives might be. *Lack of time - The situation as it exists where many people work ten hour days as a usual thing as opposed to the eight hour days is a massive influence. *Economic environment - It seems we have a huge middle class that is moving itself into being a huge upper-middle class. *Health concerns and obesity - Need I say more? *Globalization - as discussed in several other threads. *Education - of chefs in terms of formal education and of consumers (sorry could not think of a better word at the moment) who have been more exposed to a variety of options. What do you think? Could these drives be of major influence in guessing which paths "dining" will follow? Which of these drives will be the strongest? Are there other drives that could be vital to consider in trying to guess the outcome of it all? Drives, now, not trends.

Let me try again. It can be used to help whack open large jars but it can be dangerous. It also makes a very quick job of scoring hams. And if you use it to start cutting veggies and get used to it, it can be habit-forming, particularly with roll-cuts.

Andre Soltner is a man who not only is a great master chef but who also is a person uncommonly charming and intelligent. I remember being dragged into his kitchen one night after dinner there, by the small determined woman who was head of "protocol" at Goldman Sachs. With a grand flourish, she introduced me as their executive chef. Quite overdone. Quite nonsensical given the reality of the situation and who he was. He nodded and bowed slightly, smiling a brilliantly charming smile as I blushed. "Ah. I am only the chef, here. No executive chef." Beautiful. Yes, there is a sense that happens often now of lionizing chefs that did not exist at this level in that not-so-far-distant past. How many of the "top chefs" that we have today are as deprecatory about themselves as he was that night, or as he was on countless other occasions that I've heard of? How many even of the "second-runner" chefs are this deprecatory about themselves? That is something to think about. But the question is: Have they become that way simply on their own, or has the public demanded this sort of theatre from them.

A dessert wine to me is no little black dress. It is no mere accessory. It is a wardrobe unto itself.

Absolutely. And a fine thing it is. When I think of these trickle-up places though, it *seems* to me that - somehow (in many of them) there is a sort of disconnect from the startup-type places. I would guess that one factor might be that the children of new immigrants are encouraged to "do better", to enter what would be considered a more "professional" field. ( As opposed to our lawyers and corporate types who go running off to become chefs. . ) The trickle-up places that I can think of are owned by investment groups, not usually the families that started them. This may be different in metropolitan areas where a trickle-up place might assure a very good income. I am thinking of trickle-up places in smaller cities. And in thinking of the food itself, if I were presented with the option of a meal at a "start-up" place or at a "trickle-up" place, I would choose the start-up place. My experience is that chances are, you might find magnificence. Which I can not remember ever finding at a trickle-up.

That is interesting, TPO. So you really did have an "epiphanic" moment. That is wonderful. And yes, you *can* dream. Remember the old saying: "Say you can, say you can't. Either way you'll be right."

My mission is to educate readers and open their eyes to food possibilities (and connections) they haven't thought of before. I also wouldn't mind my name going down in history as an expert on X! ← Yes, Workman does make nice books, don't they. Clean. An expert on X is a fine thing to be. I wonder what X is. Do you know yet or are you figuring it out as you go along? Is your Asian food focus broad-base or specific, SuzySushi?

My only comment on these trickle-up places is that they seem to mostly exist in places where the automobile traffic is truly obnoxious.

The word "gourmet" puts me to sleep. Oh. (Edited to add) Not pleasantly.

Bourdain's point might be stretched a bit to include the concept that travel is one of the ways for one to get ideas on different cultures. The foods that we eat grow from our cultures. The foods that we eat grow from our geographies and what our lands will produce. The geographies, the singular places (and here I will raise the memory of New Orleans as an emotional appeal to the idea of appreciation of "singular place") that are so varied around the world, grow the cultures that create the foods. The people that live in the singular places create the foods. It is their hands, their minds, their ways of "being", their histories that place taste and meaning into the food. In this way, travel is important. The further one travels, the more expanded all sorts of horizons become. The tastebuds shift, the eyes have more things to compare with what happens to be in front of one, and most of all perhaps and hopefully there are small indiscernable shifts in the realm of the heart. You will never find the true experience of a food of any culture outside the place it was grown. Good translations, yes. But not the true language. That is where all this goes, this thing of eating, dining, knowledge of food. It leads to our hearts. That is my argument for travel. Travel as far as you can go. Find the money. Make the money. Take the time. You will never regret it.

Well Fabby. . .I only asked those questions to prove I knew how to do this thing of "Who What When Where Why and How." That seems so important to people. I would certainly allow you to bully me into giving you a food writing assigment too, if you brandished that beautiful shoe in your avatar at me! You seem to have a tremendous amount of energy, always dashing around and getting things done. It is truly admirable. Haven't read that book yet, but will now. I have avoided reading fiction with food themes unless it runs right into me. I prefer books just about. . .other things. Having thought day and night about food for so many years when I was a chef, I tried to run away from it afterwards. It tires me. But the thing refuses to go away, it nags at me and follows me around, and I find that when I do sit to write, the ideas are all about food in some form. Can't even divorce the thing. Genevieve noted that she had made some excellent contacts through her blog. Do you all do blogs? Anything to say about blogging? And is there any subject or idea that people keep asking you write about other than the things you do want to write about? Edited because I changed Genevieve to Gabrielle. I love both names. Wish I had one of them.

That question would require a bottle of wine and some intimate conversation... ← I can definitely see you writing for Gastronomica, Carolyn. Do you have a definite focus for the book that you ultimately wish to write? A bottle of wine and some intimate conversation sounds like a lovely thing to do. We will have to plan that someday if we don't first happen to meet up at Pirate School.

Well. Only two answers. So I must assume that this is a boring topic or perhaps a frightening or distasteful one in some way. For surely there must be more aspiring food writers in the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and Letters than two. So to finish it off, I'll answer you, Danielle. First it needs to be said that I am unsure that I even want to be a "food writer". In considering it as a real job, it seems that plumbers can make more money and can even work their own hours. I entertain the idea twice weekly, each time for about fifteen minutes, and then wish to take a nap. The nap seems much more appealing. But if I were to consider the idea, here's what I'd say: The inspiration within the genre would be MFK Fisher for me. What I would write of is. . .how food is a rather magical element of life with immense and hidden powers. Really. I've never taken up the pen seriously but have fun fooling around with words on paper. If I decided that I seriously wanted to be published, the most important thing to me would not be "where" so much as "who". As this thing would not be done for money for me as a motivating factor, the "who" is important. It would have to be a place where the editor enjoyed what I did and who encouraged me while also offering advice and direction. That precious thing is what it is all about, in that area for me. Naive? Perhaps. But vital to me. And you don't get what you want in this life usually without looking pretty hard for it. I guess that would answer the question about why I would submit to one place or another, too. Since what I like to write is stories, fiction. . .with elements of food within the story whereby the food itself almost becomes an actual driving character, it would not be to educate that I would write. Other people can do that much better. I simply would like to entertain and maybe give a grain or two of thought. If I could make someone laugh! Oh. That would be the best thing in the entire world. A laugh is as good as a fine meal, to me. So. Now. Almost anyone out there can be much more impressive than what I just wrote. Do write in and tell of your stories?

Thanks for finding that link, rancho gordo. I searched but it was hiding from me, apparently. As to your other point, merde-heels might be the object of a woman's affections for some period of time. They often are. But eventually they slip on the merde on their heel and tumble down nicely into an ever bigger pile of it. So eventually, and rightfully, the non merde-heels rule.