mmmFood

A version of this was written for the application essay, and I think I will copy and paste to the profile "biography". What the hey.... By the way, where is everyone else's biographies? There seems to be quite a lacking here. How about a sort of statement on your food goals or something?

I have been reading eGullet for some time now, and find the posts to be generally very useful and informative. I have an "untrained" love of food and I am always searching out the best use of my hard-earned food dollar. I have begun to see personalities and tastes in some of the posters to my local forum (Pacific Northwest), and have been reading the posts with that history in mind, kind of like getting comfortable with the opinions of our many local professional food reviewers. That said, I often find myself agreeing or disagreeing on some point, and really wishing that I could add my two cents to the discussion, for the benefit of the posters as well as the many unregistered "readers" like I have been. I know that everybody has a different opinion and that not one is always correct, least of all myself. Occasionally I find myself wishing to post a question and start a thread, but I don't predict that will happen all that often. I believe in something akin to "innocent until proven guilty" when it comes to a new restaurant visit of any caliber. I also really believe that a single experience or two does not make or break a place for me under most circumstances, and I don't like hearing "I went there once, and I will never return." (However, I certainly do this myself sometimes!). One of my strong beliefs is that food can be enjoyed in an infinite variety of ways. Sometimes sublime food and service is the goal, sometimes "bang for the buck" is the goal (or this can be thought of as a pound per dollar ratio), sometimes family friendly is the goal, sometimes it is something as simple as a comfortable seat and a pleasant atmosphere in which to read a magazine and pass the time, with the food occasionally taking a back seat to the other factors. This is the reality of the world in which I eat food, and I hope others have a similar open attitude. I am very adventurous, and hope to be led into new cuisines with the help of other readers of this forum. I hope I will speak clearly, and I know that I will be supremely respectful of others and their opinions.