Pan

Pam, that's an amazing lineup of stuff you're cooking. How long does it take to cook how many of those? 140, you said? One question: What is Mandarin salad? Salad with mandarin oranges?

A pint of horseradish for how many people?

Thanks for the quote from the House report. No, but I am and have been suggesting that you start discussing them. I accept that it is just to provide protection for truly original culinary creations, but I do not accept that we should clamor for a legal extension of copyright without determining whether and how it would be practical and how the scope of the protection would be determined. So we need to see some discussion of what the limits of this extension of copyright should be and how the proponents of culinary copyright propose to define its scope. I do have to say the suggestion that culinary copyright would damage creativity doesn't seem reasonable. I don't think that music copyright has damaged creativity. The one bad effect it's had is to make it difficult for ordinary musicians to perform contemporary works under ASCAP protection. When ASCAP approaches musicians who are playing recitals at a financial loss to work out terms of payment to ASCAP for performances of pieces they want to promote through performance, the reaction of these musicians is to simply stop performing such pieces. I know of at least one composer who is unhappy about that. The analogy would be that overbroad application of any future extension of copyright to culinary creations would cause many restaurants to take certain dishes off the menu (e.g., flourless molten chocolate cakes, Caesar salad, etc. -- to name a couple of dishes with apparently traceable parentage). That wouldn't damage creativity but would be bad for the diner.

Expensive and "non-ethnic," then. I think there is a clientele that prefers not to go downtown and shop in Indian and Chinese and Thai stores. And of course in terms of shops in Grand Central, there's the commuter crowd. But to me, it's amazing that you can find the same spices being sold for multiple times more a few miles away -- or even blocks away. Why, for example, would anyone in the East Village buy small quantities of stale spices in little jars in the supermarket when they can get much higher-quality, fresher spices in larger quantities at Dowel and any number of other Indian or Bangladeshi stores in this neighborhood? Ignorance, I think, and a lack of inclination by some people to go to places that are associated with different ethnic groups and aren't already familiar to them. I admit I have a prejudice against expensive spice purveyors. But at least I think you all can see why.

A mistranslation of curry!!! ← Wow!

How many New Yorkers feel like the difference in price between Penzey's and places like Kalustyan's, Dowel, and Sahadi's is worthwhile? I can get good spices cheaply, any day of the week and twice on Sundays. I wonder how a Penzey's store will do with people who don't mind shopping in non-chi-chi places with "ethnic" clientele.

What's with the mentions of "Calais" in the machine translation?

In the ancient words of Kohelet, the Preacher, in the Book of Ecclesiastes (quoted in English translation here): Great, poetic words, and in many ways a larger truth, but seemingly belied on the temporal and prosaic level by patent and copyright law. And, paradoxically, we very much remember these old words by Kohelet and learn from them today. But Fat Guy, I do not agree with you that it's a good idea to simply extend copyright protection to cuisine without first devising clear law that can be subjected to reasonable interpretation. As you know, laws have often been thrown out for vagueness. The boundaries of copyrightable works of cuisine have to be defined at least somewhat before a satisfactory legal application can be devised. Otherwise, we leave things wide open for almost any outcome from the law being completely thrown out to its overbroad application, don't we?

Done, and I appreciate the clarification, because I've eaten a couple of times (though not recently) at a restaurant called Marlowe on Restaurant Row (46 St.). I would have asked if that restaurant had moved to Williamsburg...

I suspect many people's answers would depend on how you define "original work of cuisine." I have a formula for a scrambled egg dish that I made up, though it was inspired by Italian sources. In that sense, it's an original work of cuisine, but the idea that something with no exact recipe based on some general principles and adaptable to whatever things are available in the various categories (green vegetables, cheese, wine, etc.) could be copyrightable is absurd. So, where would you propose to draw a clear legal line? A copyright law on culinary artwork would have to have clear boundaries to be sustainable and usable.

sizzleteeth, there is an art that is practiced much more than music: writing. It has been asserted in this and other threads that all text messages, emails, and snail mails are eligible for copyright. So if that's true, that's much more unenforceable than a copyright of culinary creations. How many emails, text messages, and snail mails are written and sent every hour, let alone day?

I think they would have noticed if I hadn't eaten the salmon. Yes, it was part of an interview, but the dinners themselves were more about the members of the search committee having the opportunity to get meals they wanted, and most of the conversation that night was about food and travel. They all more or less liked their meals.

Pam, you're a glutton for punishment, aren't you? I hope it isn't the "Jewish guilt" thing. Seriously, have a wonderful blog and a great Pesach. I'll be in motion part of the upcoming week, but I'll try my best to keep up with you.

Lori, you can bookmark this site: Fahrenheit and Celsius Temperature Converter Calculator FYI, 30 C. = 86 F.

Milagai, are edible mushrooms not indigenous to India? I asked that question, but it seems an odd question to me. Why do some Indians not eat mushrooms?

One thing that was missing from Hathor's essay on Lazio was any mention of Civitavecchio and Tarquinia. I had a wonderful meal of super-fresh seafood dishes at a restaurant near Tarquinia Scalo in 1998, but what I don't know is whether there are specific dishes of Etruscan parentage or regional tradition in the Tarquinia or Civitavecchio area. Does anyone know?

I think we should establish what rights craftsmen/-women have to their intellectual property. Can a table or chair be copyrighted? What about intarsial work, drapery, or stained glass windows? What would happen to someone who copies a copyrighted stained glass window or floor design, if such copyrights are indeed possible and enforceable? I have to say that while I can accept cuisine as an art, intarsial work would have to be at least equally considered an art. Yet to my knowledge, all the things I've mentioned above, plus pottery, are considered crafts.

No comment from me, but in case some of you are interested in how the Michelin Guide was received in New York, check out this thread. And this was the discussion we had before the New York guide was published.

I must have mentioned this before, like in a previous thread on airline food, but when I'm taking a long flight (like to the West Coast or Europe), I like to get a pastrami sandwich and a large cole slaw from Katz's. If Katz's is closed, I'll pick up something from Grand Sichuan St. Marks (I think I got Hunan Chicken the last time), and make sure they pack some chopsticks and napkins and give me a really sturdy bag. Other times, I've been known to just get a Kozy Shack pudding (I loved their Dulce de Leche, but damn it, they stopped making it, it seems!) and pick up a couple of bagels from my local kosher bakery.

I recently got a salmon dish at a business dinner (part of an interview for a job). It was a bit fishy. If I had been with friends, I probably would have sent it back. In that context, I ate the whole thing and did not make any kind of negative comment about the meal. If the fish had been really bad instead of a bit fishy and kind of borderline, I'm not sure what I would have done.

I think a lot of people do. I certainly have been known to do so.

Liqun is hard for Beijing cab drivers to find, but be warned that it doesn't seem to be hard for big tourist buses to find...

I suppose if a technique could be patented, someone could violate the patent. But from my standpoint as a musician, the idea of plagiarizing a technique is ludicrous. All good musicians try to learn techniques developed by others.

I think that since this is clearly an area that will be getting more attention on these boards, it is on-topic for there to be a short description of the definition and scope of the "Creative Commons license."

Right, and I think it's quite alright to post a reaction to a single meal as long as it's clear that that's what you're posting. It can be considered a meal report or a snapshot, rather than a review that resulted from several visits. Interesting you should put it that way. I never post my meal reports with the idea in mind that someone at the restaurant will read them and do something in reaction to them. If that should happen, that would be fine, but I doubt it has. So why do I post meal reports? So that others can benefit from them, and also because I just plain enjoy sharing the experience. Usually, I figure that other members might benefit by reading about a good restaurant they may not have known about, or my having chimed in with a positive opinion in case anyone values my opinion, but should I have had a really bad experience, my post might be able to save someone else from having one. So just as others have helped me to find good food and avoid bad food, I try to return the favor. Which gets me to my point: If you post the name of the restaurant (not here, in the relevant thread in the Vancouver forum), by virtue of your having declared that the emperor has no clothes, you may puncture what sounds like a so far impenetrable aura of invincibility about that restaurant and create a debate that may bring out other criticisms. At worst, you might be a lone voice of dissent but still could cause someone to reconsider spending hard-earned money there. I guess I really don't understand at all the idea of posting as a way of letting the staff or chef know something. If you simply want to tell the staff or chef something, do it directly. Surely, you must have some other motive for posting here? Not to share your opinions with other members??