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Andrew Fenton

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Posts posted by Andrew Fenton

  1. In our area this has translated in the recent months into no baked goods at our farmers market that weren't created in a commercial kitchen, and no eggs except from registered poultry growers.

    Impressive, given that it hasn't yet become law! Presumably New Mexico has passed its own food safety laws?

    Anyway, from what I can tell the main goal of the legislation is to split the FDA into two entities: one for drugs, and one for food. That seems sensible to me, not least because the food side of the FDA has been neglected in recent years.

    Some aspects seem sensible as well, such as increasing the number of inspections of food processing plants. Other goals, such as certifying that imported food is produced under safe conditions, are laudable, though given the huge amount of food we import, I don't know how likely they are to be enforced. An interesting provision is section 403(b), which calls for mandatory recalls of tainted foods. Right now, recalls are optional, and prosecutions for killing people with contaminated food are pretty rare. I can't say I have a problem with mandatory recalls of peanut butter a la salmonella.

    I have to say that worries about jackbooted thugs kicking down stands at farmers markets seem overblown; resources are scarce enough for dealing with large producers. If you're worried, you should be talking to your local government agencies, who already do oversee that sort of thing.

  2. I don't know one way or the other about liquid smoke. Certainly there are commercial bacons that use it, and while those bacons mostly suck, that's not to say you couldn't do better. So it might be worth a try.

    But I'll point out that there are smoking options available for apartment dwellers: stovetop smokers (I have a Cameron) and smoking bags, to name two. They're not the same as smoking in an outdoor rig, but neither is liquid smoke, is it?

    Also, unsmoked bacon is also very good. If you've never made bacon before, you might give that a try.

  3. As Daniel points out, the only ethical concern that is important with respect Colicchio's endorsement of Diet Coke is whether he thinks it's a decent enough product to endorse.  Perhaps if he had been on record numerous times railing against the evils of the Coca Cola corporation and the disgusting taste of Diet Coke there would be a problem here -- but this isn't the case.

    Right-o. And unlike Bayless and BK, this would be trivial to test out. Just go to one of Colicchio's restaurants, sit down at the bar, and order a Diet Coke. If they don't serve it, then Colicchio's got some 'splainin to do. But I suspect that they do serve it. And if it's good enough to serve to his customers, surely it's good enough to endorse?

  4. By "finer restaurants", do you mean "upscale", or "better food"? If the latter, you might think about the Yacht Basin Provision Company. It's been a few years since I ate there, but I had a really wonderful meal there, the highlight of my trip to Wilmington. It's a waterfront seafood dive: very casual, but with terrific fish. Outside of town, though, so you'll want a car.

  5. It has been closed for a couple of years now. It became a combination Mexican/Mediterranean (?) place for a while (possibly under the same ownership? You can see that I never went in, despite walking by it all the time). The Sushi House (formerly a couple of blocks away) has moved in recently.

  6. The Cypriot breakfast is indeed on the lunch menu, and it looks terrific. Eggs, ham, halloumi: what could be wrong? Kanella isn't open at breakfast hours, but I suppose that the dish would be an ideal breakfast for the late risers among us.

    Oh, and I note that the current issue of GQ also has an article about breakfast spots (I think the only Philly location mentioned is Little Pete's, for scrapple.) I guess all the cool men's magazines are doing that nowadays...

  7. All kidding aside (and I liked your Niemöller parody; those always kill), nobody is decreeing what you eat. If you want garbage pizza, or garbage on your pizza, you're free to eat it. I can't stop you. The government can't stop you. Sam Kinsey, dwelling within his Lex Luthor-style fortress deep under the streets of Manhattan, can't stop you. Even if he cared to unleash his Pizza Mind Control Ray on the unsuspecting public, I doubt he would he would use his powers for evil. Mostly.

    I guess I'd ask: there are a thousand thousand threads on eGullet that feature lists of what people like, presented uncritically and received in the same spirit. Why do you feel the need to be validated? Why does it bother you so much that there's one discussion that doesn't go along those lines?

  8. I never said that the decisions made by McDonald's and Coke were government mandates. The decision to ban trans fats in New York was government mandated. Again, I think consumers have a right to eat what they want without government interference. I don't smoke, but I don't agree that it should be banned. People know full well that certain things are not healthy, but they, and not the government should decide.

    You said:

    I feel that the consumer, not the government, should decide what we eat. I choose to eat what tastes good. Hot dogs or french fries fried in lard or beef tallow. Coke with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. Many remember years ago when McDonald's fried with beef tallow. The fries tasted better.

    Since all the examples you gave followed your statement about the consumer vs. the government, I thought they were connected. Evidently they weren't; my apologies.

    In 80 years I don't know of one person who has gotten sick from eating hot dogs at Rutts or fries prepared in beef tallow. Why ban it now? No one has to eat there if they don't want to. Just let me (and the owners of Rutt's Hut) have the choice, not some beaureaucratic do gooder.

    We're not talking about the tallow (which I agree is fine). We're talking about leaving sauce out and unrefrigerated (if that is indeed what they did; I don't know.). This isn't an issue about cliched "bureaucratic do-gooders", it's about food safety.

  9. I feel oddly compelled to pick nits... first, there are naturally occurring trans fats. But the ones at issue are artificial, of course.

    Second, I find it interesting, John, that both of the examples you give of the government deciding what we eat (corn syrup in Coke, McDonalds no longer frying with beef tallow) are in fact examples of decisions made by the companies, not government mandates.

    About Rutt's: I can't say that I'm too upset about them following food safety procedures. It's not just an abstract fear of lawsuits, it's a fear of people getting sick.

  10. Obviously many new ovens have a similar feature as I had the identical experience a few months ago. Read the instructions that came with your oven. Mine, a Wolf, has something it calls a "sabbath mode" which turns out to be a way of avoiding the automatic turn-off. I can now switch to that mode and the oven will stay on until I choose to turn it off.

    Yes, I went straight to the manual and saw that the oven has this feature. They don't call it a sabbath mode, however: I guess Kenmore is designed for gentiles. :wink:

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