Pontormo

Patrick: I just saw your second, interesting post and want to thank you for the link to the study on thrill-seeking and smoking. (Compliments on the rhetorical gesture of your apostle/philosopher, too.)

I am not sure it's that simple anymore, though, you've put the Snob issue into perspective quite succinctly. Look at the concession stand that Danny Meyer and his partner set up now that USC and GT are venerable institutions. There's a cache to certain fast foods these days that isn't utterly Camp or irony. We learn to rationalize what we crave no matter what time of the month, and there's a certain snob appeal to the bad food foodies want. Then there's the Julia Child factor. Her comments regarding everything in moderation apply here, too. Me, I prefer the fries at Johnny Rocket. The ones at McDonald's leave an unpleasant aftertaste.

Actually, jsolomon's reference was one step removed from the joke: a reference to a recent book on grammar and punctuation that was a bestseller in the UK. Seems we both are prickly when it comes to usage and grammar even though I for one do not mind dropping a pronoun or an article here and there when I am writing informally. (Where's *Deborah*, I wonder?) But getting back to the topic at hand, I would like to call for the assistance of anyone who plans to watch television tonight to help me out on the ad campaign that I tried to recall in my original post here. I tried using google in vain, although I did learn about the relationship between Frito-Lay and Pepsi. Meanwhile, since Gifted Gourmet has brought our attention not just to McDonald's but also a current trend in promoting fast food and re-fashioning the image of notorious companies so that they seem more socially responsible, do check out the company site for Frito-Lay: Good Fun for the Fun of It. And while you're watching television, keep in mind what Fast Food Nation tells us about the gobs of money McDonald's devotes to advertising. Anyone care to disconstruct the current ad that places four Desirable Demographiques in a car, three dudes and one like girl? "CheekON!" they exclaim, one by one. Megan, this promotes your beloved nuggets, by the way. Discuss among yourselves. I am going out to get my hair done since I am just too aged to wear a knit skull cap every day of the year.

We all have our moments and twould be most hypocritical of me to play Church Lady meets Alice Waters to you, Megan. There are things I ingest when unfettered by a cold that I would not confess here. But, seriously, do look at that cartoon.

I am sure I speak for many, Carrot Top, when I remove my hat with my right hand, and holding it respectfully to my chest, extend my left arm outward. My right leg thrusts forward, and left leg bends as I bow. Thank you for the fun spirit that your persona brought to this thread. It in fact inspired my call for eGullet members to assume the identities of others, including current chefs, when I invited them to compose a menu for Prince Charles and Camilla. Fiction is entertaining and teaches us something, especially when it is historical. I for one never heard of a bannock nor Bannocks before. And I wish to thank Megan for starting a fun thread on forks and for reminding me that Gourmet has gotten rather interesting and varied. And thank you too, for the reference to Visser, Adam. I love it when bibliography informs our discussion of topics. I also enjoy threads of a historical nature, such as this reminder that cutlery is rather new. Pontormo

While I have yet to see the commercials in which McDonald's re-positions itself as a nurturing soul, let me draw your attention to the much aired current campaign of Pepsi's--or come to think of it--maybe Frito Lay's--advertising firm. It is structured very much like the Kaiser-Permanente ads, including lists and reinforcing healthful behavior. It ends with a young, slim (of course) woman in a fashionably flippy-hemmed skirt buying something quote unquote responsible from a vending machine. I am sure someone else has seen this and can help me out. Others have pointed out the relationship between Chipotle and Micky D's...and the grey area thus entered when more healthful ingredients nonetheless go into a highly caloric product. And Megan, meant in a friendly way, you realize, but shudder!!! Go search for the thread Gifted Gourmet started on Jamie Oliver's school dinners. Look for my contribution, a link to Jamie's site. On that site, look for the amusing little "Dr. Demento" like cartoon in which you are taught what exactly goes on to make Chicken McNuggets. Then, my advice, go eat a slightly charred sodium nitrate free hotdog*, with dressed avocado, oven-dried pear-shaped tomatoes, chopped red onion, strong mustard on a toasted whole wheat bun. Mango & banana yogurt shake on side with lots of freshly grated organic ginger added. *I recommend Applegate as a brand. And meanwhile, this is a nerdy coda in which the Grammar Police meets Freud. And I warn you, it's going to sound overdetermined and lame, but here goes: Do note the heading for this thread and then the first post by Gifted Gourmet in which the language used by McDonald's is cited. "Quality" is a noun, not an adjective, despite what has become common in media, business and in the medical establishment. McD's is careful to specify "top quality." Writing with equivalent grammatical accuracy when composing her title, Gifted Gourmet nonetheless does not specify the kind of quality the company wishes to sell. To me the title of the thread is a linguistic allusion to the ambiguous meaning that the word "quality" acquires when it is used inaccurately as an adjective. It is almost like saying "McDonald's looks to sell quality food" without saying exactly what KIND of quality (poor, mediocre, appalling...) is intended. To me, this is a telling Freudian slip.

Recipes, anyone?

Ma na gia ba!* What did you say in Customs???!!! Thanks for the recommendations for pork belly sources. I will return to Rockville soon. *Expression of incredulity, roughly translated as "You're kidding!" and written here phonetically. Actually, something said in Puglia and transported to Florence by my fellow lodgers.

Now, a single short conversation does not a scientific survey make, but yesterday as I was headed off to see the guild statues of Orsanmichele currently on a brief visit to the National Gallery of Art (check these guys out!), I saw the sous chef of Zola leaning against the wall outside of his kitchen, a few hours before dinner. Sadly, he had not heard of egullet. However, he was not amused by some of your reports that smokers were the only ones who got breaks in their kitchens. He said that in his kitchen, laws and the rights of workers are taken very seriously and everyone gets the requisite number of breaks. When asked about his own palate, he did light up (face, that is; cigarette was nearly a stub at this point) and assured me he had been smoking a very long time and his sense of taste was as sharp as ever. As to demographics, he reckoned that 4 out of 5 in his kitchen were smokers.

Are either available here abouts, preferably in D.C. proper?

FYI: Minus the mushrooms--which sound like an inspired addition--this sounds a lot like a dish that is sometimes called Pontormo's salad, although the menu usually says "salade de Pontormo" or "insalata di Pontormo". Patricia Wells always seems to order a very similar salad in her culinary guide to Paris.

Hannnah, yes, that is the place. Thanks. Sorry if I sounded judgmental on prices. I completely understand the need to earn a profit and am more than willing to pay more for superior quality and to accommodate all businesses involved in a transaction. FYI, there was a wonderful article on a butcher by Daria Moskowitz in the anthology Best Food Writing 2004 edited by Holly Hughes. Actually, there is another, a very informative piece by Kathleen Brennan as well.

UnLAID table ? No forking? No spooning? There is something tres, how you say, feeshy, here, indeed. I roe the day our correspawndance began! Now, where did I put those eggs? Pontormo

Ruth: I am sorry I didn't see your VERY carefully thought-out menu earlier! Everything is beautifully coordinated. I like the way you have continued the regional theme that Gifted Gourmet first established, only this time treated the neglected midwest. (I seem to recall that Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan, once carried a few "artisan" cheeses from midwestern dairies.) Thank you! By the way, for those of you who didn't hear NPR this morning, you may be pleased to note that the prince and duchess are visiting an organic market north of San Francisco today before meeting Alice Waters at her Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley. I wonder if the elementary school students will bake them a pizza or braise Swiss chard.

Duff's is certainly not impressive, just a nice neighborhood place to go to meet friends or dine with colleagues who live nearby after an exhausting day when the prospect of cooking is less than thrilling. And, yes, thanks, I could not remember Drewes, but during my short time living in St. Louis, I was told that I could not go through a summer in town without a visit. I loved it. The gelato sounds like the kind we have where I live now (D.C.). While the texture is great and I feel nostalgic eating it, I have to say the fact that all the flavors are imported is a problem rather than an asset. In Italy, the good gelaterie--whether the neighborhood one or the most famous--all brag that the product is "produzione nostra," i.e., produced in house with the expectation (not always fulfilled) that the peach in July and August is going to taste uniquely different than the peach across town and fresh from the tree versus the bottle, jar or box. Never did the brains...nor the deep-fried ravioli.

Since so many of us have seen this notice, yet none has offered any response, I would like to express thanks for the information as well as all the detail, Malawry. This is precisely the kind of inside scoop I appreciate finding when reading the regional forum dedicated to our neck of the woods. I especiallly enjoyed reading the personal anecdote. It is always wonderful when someone goes out of his or her way to respond to a customer. Now, a while back The Washington Post ran a short story about a new butcher's shop somewhere out in VA or Maryland. I think it was a business owned by a woman (? not positive, but I kind of have a picture in my head) and the prices were quite the opposite to what is reported here. Anyone know what I am talking about?

Mademoiselle ? While your ancestry is rather difficult to gauge, hovering as you do somewhere at the nexus of eighteenth-century French salons, the world of Becky Sharp and the realm of Catherine the Great, still... What, pray tell, is a bannock doing, passing through your elegant lips? Methinks that a rather lowly item, surely consumed without the use of cutlery of any sort... Unless, of course, your reference is to Bannocks of a different category altogether and you reveal yourself to be an unsavory friend of the New World and, shudder, cannibalism?

I must say this is a fun thread to scroll through! It took me a while to figure out where you do your marketing, bergerka. When I did, I was even more impressed by some of the prices which are cheaper than they are in D.C. if not by gobs. I wonder if that's because so many restaurants rely on Union Square in addition to the scale and venerability of the market. Speaking of Union Square, have you ever made the hashed brussel sprouts in the first US Cafe cookbook? Not as decadent as yours, which I will definitely try, but the recipe is one of my favorites. P.S. Of course this is all so voyeuristic, but I must compliment you on maintaining the culinary theme in your lunchtime reading material. Yeah, yeah we know, so I'm sloppy:

I can't get no satistisfaction. It's like wine tasting interruptus: Using your left or right hand, you can swirl the food around on your plate with your fork and see how many interesting color and texture combinations ensue. You can move jaw up and down, lips closed, evaluating mouth feel. But then, nadda. Zip. Do you just consider this a great opportunity to save pennies and take a multivitamin while preparing lots of bland, cheap food? Do you devote the time you might have spent cooking to that book on your shelves that has a bookmark on page 17, or go volunteer? As the principal meal preparer in your family, is this question academic? You still cook as you normally do and derive pleasure from the nourishment of others? Or is there some trick you have: lots of cayenne, steam and goblets of lemon juice that you swear restores zing to your tastebuds and unclogs your nose in twenty-one hours flat?

Thanks for the terrific link on smoking and palate! Are there any cooks, chefs, busboys, servers or suppliers out there who would like to weigh in on the proportions of smokers to non-smokers in the restaurant business? Breakdown in terms of jobs held?

Thanks, Megan, I had never considered the relationship between smoking & the late hours many cooks work. And I would be grateful were you to look into the business about taste. I had always assumed smoking dulls sense of taste insofar as the sense of smell is linked. However, it may be that the non-smoker is far more aware of the smell of cigarettes clinging to the clothes and hair of smokers than a smoker is. It was interesting for me to hear Alex say his/her palate remains superior to most. This, of course, may be due to a greater sensitivity to begin with (and thus career choice) as well as years of experience and training. I also appreciate hearing about smoking breaks (never would have occurred to me) and about restaurant owners trying to crack down on the hazards of cigarettes on the premises. I know that people who do not start smoking before the age of 21 rarely become smokers. I wonder if that fact is significant here. Alex says s/he (sorry, I don't want to make assumptions) began smoking before entering the kitchen. At the risk of being simplistic, is there any relationship between the early age that many cooks begin their working lives and smoking? I know a lot of high school students smoke because it seems cool and grown up. If one is shouldering a great deal of financial and professional responsibility early on, is smoking another "adult" activity, or at least a way to relieve some of the pressure? Bound to elicit groans, but smoking and eating are not unrelated. Many quitters say they start gaining weight after giving up cigarettes and turn to chewing gum as a substitute for both. However, I actually am not as interested in the reasons or explanations at this point, so much as I am in facts and experiences.

*Deborah*: Thank you SO SO much for responding to the spirit of the topic! I love what you came up with, and am touched by the time and thought you put into this, too. So I raise my glass to you, and to continued good will between our countries! I will leave it up to you to decide which of the wines fills that glass Pontormo

One bowl just isn't enough. What's the best way to ask for more gruel? --Oliver

All I had for breakfast was a bowl of gruel. --Oliver