MarketStEl

Pizza? I thought we had a club for that. As for the rest, I've got to get into the habit of setting aside $30 a month for this. I'd love to try all of them.

After reading Michael Pollan's article, which has now put The Omnivore's Dilemma on my Must-Read list, I understand a little bit better both why people on the left, who tend to take a more statist view of things, feel that way, and why (economic) libertarians have arguments that make more sense but somehow come off sounding like they're whistling into a hurricane. His passage dealing with Sen. George McGovern's panel that was about to issue a report that urged Americans simply to eat less red meat--and the political (and nutritional) fallout from it--served as a fulcrum for his overall argument. Pollan does not couch his argument in these terms, but this episode illustrates well why many believe the state has to stick its nose in here: Large and well-organized interests with a financial stake in the outcome can often override common sense in order to protect their own hides. Given that the individual coming into a fight like this has the odds stacked high against him in his effort to secure an outcome that benefits his own interest, the "natural" choice, as it were, is to try to enlist one of the few agencies at the individual's disposal that might have enough power to overcome those odds--namely, the state. And yet this same episode illustrates the deficiencies of this approach, for here the state went up against a powerful business bloc and lost, and quite likely as a result, millions of Americans have become overweight and more susceptible to a host of diseases. Paradoxically, given this, the most effective countermeasure that could be taken is the libertarian one: Forget the state. The best weapon you have against those powerful private interests is knowledge and your own common sense. Pollan provides the former in this article, and you can use the latter to figure out how to behave once you are armed with that knowledge. Which brings us to another conundrum: We got to this pass because someone--yes, the state, but someone nonetheless--tried, not to regulate behavior, but offer common sense advice that nonetheless threatened some powerful interest group, and the interest group succeeded in getting the advice watered down. And here comes Michael Pollan, offering the same advice some three decades later in the pages of The New York Times Magazine. Score one more for the libertarian approach (the advice came entirely through nongovernmental channels). Now the challenge is to spread it to those who haven't yet heard it. This is where we come in. Now how does all this relate to the subject at hand? It seems to me to suggest that the libertarians are right--the chief weapon we should use to combat this threat to our health is information and lots of it. However, as with labeling on food packages, we may still need to get the state involved so that those who have the information are required to provide it (remember our case study above: as with the cattle ranchers and dairy farmers, the incentives in the case of trans fat argue against providing the information because doing so would hurt business). So while the ban may be a clumsy approach, we probably cannot achieve our goal here without some state action, but of the least restrictive kind possible--one that puts the ultimate power in the individual's hands. I think those mild sanctions represent an effort to reconcile this last goal with the act itself, which heads in the opposite direction.

So here it is, 2007 already, and I see that I failed in my goal for 2006, which was to hit all of the "Best of Philly" winners in the pizza category in Philadelphia magazine's annual awards fest. In particular, there are still large swaths of territory which our intrepid band of pie-eyed chowhounds (oops!) have yet to cover. Center City west of Broad and the 'burbs, to name two. And there are still a few random places in territory we've visited left to re-examine. And except for the obvious clunkers (Uno, Pizza Hut), since the goal of the tour is to determine how these former best pies stacked up now, mere reports that a place has gone into decline, such as those posted about Towne Pizza, one of the earliest winners, are not sufficient to strike it from the list of places to survey. And I believe that even though one local chain that won--Santucci Brothers--proved less than worthy, that should not deter us from inspecting Peace a Pizza, which won in the 'burbs in the early 1990s. I'd like to add a twist to this, though: I'm sure that there are worthy places out there that have yet to be recognized with a Best of Philly, and if we're serious about enjoying pizza, we need to check these places out too, especially any newcomers. So: Who's ready to pick up where we left off in 2006?

Just wanted to report back on the sirloin roast I mentioned upthread. Again, my purchase at Giunta's did not disappoint. The roast definitely had "abundant" marbling, enough to merit the grade of USDA Prime from what I could see, but only barely abundant--what would be termed "low Prime", right at 5 on that Japanese scale of 1 to 12. I cooked it by brushing it with extra virgin olive oil, rubbing it with a little salt and encrusting it in crushed black pepper, then cooking it in a George Foreman contact roaster. It was tender and flavorful. It's also in the sandwich I made for lunch today. Joseph Giunta informed me on Saturday that he now uses a local producer for his beef, John F. Martin & Sons of Stevens, Lancaster County. (I think I had purchased my sirloin roast before the switch.) The sirloin roast on display Saturday looked like it had less marbling--Choice, not Prime--but given the track record I've had so far with Giunta's meats, I'm not going to pass judgement on it until I've bought one and prepared it. So far, that shop has batted 1.000 on quality and value. (The sirloin roast is $4.99 a pound.)

As long as "burg" is used as a slang term for "city" or "town," I doubt that that last reduction of syllables will take place. The interesting bit of linguistic trivia here is that both of these terms--"burg" and "burger"--are traceable to the same German roots. "Hamburger" has been explained upthread; "burg" is the German word for "city"; thus "Königsberg" is "the king's city", "St. Petersburg" is "the city of St. Peter" and "Hamburg" is "the city of ham." Were my hometown settled by Germans, it would no doubt have been called Kansaburg. I thought that the Salisbury steak was also named for a British nobleman, like the sandwich. The Salisbury steak could also be considered a "hamburger, no bun."

My, my, my! REAL SNOW!!!!! I've forgotten what it looks like ever since winters in Philadelphia became semi-tropical. Okay, I exaggerate a bit. The temperature when I woke up this morning was 29F (-2C) and the forecast calls for a high in the mid-30s. There was even a dusting of snow on the ground thanks to snow showers that passed through the area last night. But if you can see the blades of green grass poking up through the snow cover on Swarthmore's athletic fields, as I did this morning on the way to work, then I don't think what we're having here deserves the name winter. A freak cold snap is more like it. I plan on taking copious notes from this blog. I love soup, but haven't made too much homemade. I really need to learn this skill if I'm going to continue to serve soup in the future, for both my partner and my roommate must control their blood pressure, which makes commercial canned soups verboten. Speaking of copious notes: I recall someone on my last foodblog confessing that she loved to see photos of hands at work. I feel the same way about handwriting, which conveys a lot about the writer's personality--and often one's occupation: doctors almost uniformly write in an illegible chicken scratch, and architects have a fondness for open block capitals, for instance. Therefore, I'd like to thank snowangel for opening this blog with an example of her own and hope that the other two bloggers will follow suit. As for the obligatory fridge shots, I believe the photo of the three-foot-high snowbanks Pam R posted immediately above fulfills her obligation , but if she cares to actually show us her refrigerator, she is encouraged to go ahead and do so. Blog on! I'm looking forward to this week.

The cheese remains under vacuum-wrapped seal in the fridge. Neither partner nor roomie are big cheeseheads, and I really want to have someone else who is on hand when I try these for the first time. Not to worry, though -- as soon as I do, I'll have a full report, illustrated. But in the meantime, those appetizers sound interesting; perhaps you can tell me how to make them? I can tell you, however, that the bed is attractive, and the materials used quite sturdy, having finally assembled it today.

(emphasis added) What we consider reasonable for the private sector is often considered extravagant when public servants do it. This attitude doesn't always make sense, and this appears to be one of those instances where it doesn't indeed. (Certainly, if even the budget hotels in Napa County are pricey, then slamming Chairman Newman for spending lots of money on hotel rooms in Napa is unfair, although one could still chide him for booking a room in the fancier hotel rather than the budget one.) And in a sense it's unfair to those who choose public service as a career. But people who do so--just like people who go into the nonprofit sector--do so, or ought to do so, knowing that there won't be the level of renumeration or perks that some private businesses may offer. Edited to add: Even so, $23,000 per year on business travel doesn't strike me as all that outrageous either.

He is also the Ann Landers of Shiite Islam. Check out the Q&As on a host of topics at Ayatollah al-Sistani's Web site. Edited to add a link that takes you directly to the English-language version of the site.

So is there anywhere where I can find out how the other two commissioners performed on the hot seat? Is PCN (Comcast Digital South Philly/Center City: Channel 186) re-airing the hearings at any time? Something tells me that I'm not going to see anything about this in the Inquirer given what the paper has chosen to focus on thus far.

Having now caught up with the discussion, I see that I'm in need of some re-education myself. I'll go pick up my Little Red Book tomorrow at the Widener bookstore, and for the next two weeks, you will be able to reach me in care of People's Nutritional Academy No. 3, Flat 2, Block 16, 1500 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, Pa. Seriously -- and I see that this thread I started half in jest has gotten real serious real fast -- I think that this sort of ban is justifiable for the following reason: In general, the cure for actions that can cause harm is providing information about the harm caused. Note that the simple action of requiring food manufacturers to list the amount of trans fat in the products they make has already led to many companies reformulating their foods to get rid of the trans fats before the requirement took effect. Theoretically, this should work the same for a restaurant. If the local Chinese takeout were required to put a sign over the door saying "We fry our rice in partially hydrogenated soybean oil," customers could then choose to patronize the place knowing the risks or take their business elsewhere. However: In many of the neighborhoods Vadouvan speaks of above, there are very few "elsewheres" for the customers to take their business. That Chinese takeout on the corner where the owner serves you behind thick Plexiglas is likely the only one that's convenient to the residents of the neighborhood, and no, they're not gonna hop on the 61 bus to go down to Chinatown and hunt for a restaurant with no sign over the door as an alternative. In this case, banning the use of a product that plays a hidden role in the preparation of food, though a burden, is a relatively small one, and the added costs from switching to a trans-fat-free alternative are small enough that most consumers won't really be hit in their wallets. For all I mocked the mindset behind these food bans--and I do disagree with that mindset--this one has some justifiable public-health benefits. But let's address the point that others have made about such substances as sugar, alcohol and water -- say, isn't that just about all there is in a Smirnoff Ice? -- by answering the question "So why aren't trans fats labeled on the block of New York State Cheddar I just bought?" (Which will by extension answer Anne's far more important question, "Will I still be able to enjoy a Whiz wit whenever?") There are a host of naturally occurring substances that are beneficial in moderation but harmful when consumed to excess. As we have now learned from the tale of the woman who died while taking a shock jock up on a water-drinking challenge, even water is on this list. These substances have been consumed by humans for millennia, and while everyone knows the harm they can cause, we have--especially after the failure of Prohibition--wisely reached the conclusion that we cannot reduce the harm through outlawing them. Naturally occurring trans fats found in meat and cheese, if I understand one of the posts upthread properly, also fall into this category. But then we go around and produce artificial products that also contain chemically different versions of these same substances. In these cases, we would apparently do well to heed that old ad tagline (from a TV ad for soft margarine, ironically), "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." Apparently these man-made versions either lack the beneficial side effects of the naturally occurring ones or are more harmful when consumed at even modest quantities than the naturally occurring ones are. In such cases, knowing the increased harm and knowing that said harm can be reduced or eliminated completely simply by not using the artificial substances in question should lead us to at the minimum warn everyone about the presence and dangers of these substances and ultimately to stop using them where alternatives to them that produce comparable results exist. In the case of artificial trans fats from partial hydrogenation, all of the above conditions are met, so the moral hazard from regulating them out of existence is minimal or nonexistent. At the supermarket, the proper approach is to inform the purchaser of the risk; at the restaurant, it's more appropriate to encourage the proprietor to remove the risk completely. Note my use of the word "encourage" in the foregoing sentence. Even though I made fun of the proposed punishments in the City of Philadelphia ordinance in my initial post, they make sense from the standpoint of not placing an undue burden on the restaurant owner or cook, as fines would. To that extent, the proposed "punishments" answer the traditional libertarian objection to regulations of this type, even if they do so at the risk of making this ordinance a purely symbolic feel-good gesture. But if the restaurateurs get the message the way the manufacturers did when the USDA said, "You're gonna have to print the amount of trans fats on the label," then the ordinance will have done its job. Now let me answer Anne's question explicitly. The harm you will suffer from eating that cheesesteak will be the same because the fats (trans and other) in the cheese and the steak are naturally occurring, and there's no way to reduce the harm without destroying the essence of the substances (think USDA Select beef and fat-free cheese). Ergo, no ban, and you can go ahead and wolf down as much Cheez Whiz as you care to eat, knowing that penance will come later in the form of either another inch around the midriff or another 20 minutes on the treadmill.

Trans fats are overwhelmingly man-made, though I think there are a few natural sources. They are produced when normally liquid fats are partially hydrogenated to make them solid at room temperature. (Fully hydrogenating a fat, however, produces no trans fat, IIRC.) Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils -- vegetable shortening, in essence -- are popular for baking because they produce baked products with good mouthfeel and flavor. Margarine also contains trans fat for this reason. Cheeses, including processed cheeses, do not contain trans fats. So you can eat that Whiz wit witout guilt.

Anyone for staging a candlelight vigil for Jow's Lunch Truck in front of the main entrance to the Penn Bookstore?

City, Commonwealth, it doesn't matter...one quickly disabuses oneself of such notions here. And no, I didn't miss the sarcasm. Maybe we can help Councilman Ramos out by preparing some chef's whites with scarlet T's sewn on them. We can even have a sewing party with wine and cheese. I can go pick up a Chairman's Selection at my local State Store.

From today's Philadelphia Inquirer: Well, I guess if we're going to outlaw things that aren't healthy for us, shame is about the best we can hope for as a form of punishment. I just hope that Councilman Ramos isn't contemplating the creation of Trans Fat Re-education Camps to which the offenders would be sent. I remember an old saw that said, "You can't legislate morality." This was aimed at those who sought to enshrine the values of their particular faith in the laws of the land. So now that it's our bodies that are the temples, here we go again, attempting to do just that. Cigarettes, overstuffed geese livers, trans fats.... What's next? Alcoholic beverages?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Eskimo Pie: The peripatetic promoter of peace and reconciliation between peoples delivered an address last year to more than 3,000 youths attending the PeaceJam at the University of Denver Denver, Colorado, was where Clara and Russell Stover started their boxed chocolate manufacturing business; Russell Stover Candies, now based in Kansas City, Missouri, is the third-largest chocolate maker in the US and the largest producer of boxed chocolates* Russell Stover was the business partner of Christian Nelson, an Iowa schoolteacher and candy store owner who came up with the idea of a chocolate-dipped ice cream bar in 1920; Clara Stover suggested the name "Eskimo Pie" for the new treat, which made all three wealthy until competitors came out with identical products, leading the Stovers to give up on ice cream and go into candymaking instead *One degree of separation between me and Russell Stover: Tom Ward (Pem-Day '76), one of my classmates, is the current president of Russell Stover Candies. His family, which made Russell Stover's packaging for decades, bought the company from the Stovers in 1969 Grand Ayatollah Sayid Ali Husaini Sistani and a Big Mac

Newman is a Republican, IIRC. That probably didn't help him much with Rendell...except for the fact that Conti is too. The continuing fallout from Newman's resignation does have about it the air of a catfight now. Hey...if I'm right about Newman's party affiliation, maybe we could persuade him to move into the city? The city GOP desperately needs someone to run for mayor.

Don't you just love the 'Net? I'm sure the folks at Fante's do too, for that way, they can sell stuff to you all the way across the country as easily as they can to me about a half mile from their store.

Well, it looks like this is shaping up nicely.... will we be informed about time, place and requirements to participate?

I got in to Harvard, Yale, Brown and Chicago (the only four schools I applied to), and occasionally regret turning down Chicago. Having dined at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Penn, I'll second your assessment of Penn's campus dining. What Harvard's dining services did to poor innocent tofu scared me away from the stuff unnecessarily for decades. But in the YMMV department: I was having a conversation last night with another PGMC member who asked me about my college experience. Said Chorus member attended Penn. I told him that at Harvard, I got an education from the smartest people in the world: my classmates. He seconded my assessment of how Harvard undergrads relate to one another and lamented what he saw as an everyone-for-themselves ethos at Penn. But yeah, as Ivies go, Penn's not snooty at all. Princeton has the market in that cornered. Edited to add: Confidential to JohnL: Careful about making assumptions. Check out the bio on my profile.

Actually I got in early decision. So I may never know the answer to that question... And yeah. I stayed. ← I got into Penn because I successfully interviewed for a job there. Turned out to be a pretty good career move in the long run. As for where I went to college...well, it is in the Ivies....

Let me also add that if chipping in is required, I'll gladly chip in. I have no gadgets to contribute to the effort, though.

World-class municipal inferiority complex, John... And I know from municipal inferiority complexes. I grew up in Kansas City, which has a fairly healthy one too, though it's been largely cured of late.

Absolutely on the "if" question! For some of the reasons why, I refer you to my foodblogs. To save time, however, I'll summarize them here too: We are surrounded by some of the country's best food-producing regions, and we have a talented pool of chefs(1) who are working with this bounty to produce interesting and often outstanding dishes for diners who appreciate what they're doing. The breadth of restaurant offerings has also grown over the past few years to the point where our dining scene is probably as diverse as one can find in any large American city(2). As for favorite places: I'm not a frequent diner--yet; for one thing, I enjoy cooking, and for another, I don't have the scratch like that. But here are some places I've been that I thoroughly enjoyed: --Szechuan Tasty House --Vietnam and Vietnam Palace (they're across the street from each other) --The Astral Plane (the last survivor of the "Restaurant Renaissance" and a reliable standby) --Caribou Cafe --Moriarty's (for the wings, of course!) --Pho 75 (talk about good, cheap and filling!) --Taqueria La Puebla (see Pho 75, above; this is the Mexican variant on that equation) And now for something completely different: --Ikea serves a surprisingly good hot dog for only 50 cents. Edited to add the footnotes I left out: (1) some of whom, including some participants here on eG, are graduates of the School of Hospitality Management at my employer. (2) New York, of course, being in a class by itself, this statement does not encompass that city. But our dining scene holds its own with New York's nonetheless, as this thread suggests.

Yeah... Absolutely not. Those are fast foods (relatively speaking) and should be able to stand up to fast comment. (Speaking of pizza, I need to arrange another Review Tour stop. There's part of Center City not yet covered, a few more places in South Philly ditto, and we haven't hit the 'burbs at all.) Those are going to get worse from here out anyway, so why bother with this? We are in complete agreement here. As I said before, you really don't need to apologize for your writing. You get paid to cook. I get paid to write. We both do what we get paid to do well. (Seen Postscript yet?) I wouldn't presume to open a fine dining restaurant; I know neither the technique nor the business. And besides, this is a conversation, not a newspaper or magazine; the sort of "editing" that goes on here is not for style or tone, and 'Net conventions frown on that stuff anyway on discussion boards. Not to mention that stream-of-consciousness writing is a literary genre all its own.