Speed At Which Members Eat

[Jinmyo]

cabrales, I rarely go out to eat these days because it is difficult in Ottawa to find a meal that would be better than what I do every day. Or anywhere near as good. I used to go quite frequently to a few Chinese restaurants for lunch and to play Go (Weiqi). So I have a carrying case for hashi. In fact, I also have a roll-up case which carries for sets plus rests.

[franklanguage]

I think we could have a whole thread about hashi. (Thanks for the word, Jinmyo.)

I used to carry my own Japanese chopsticks; they were pink plastic and said "Happy Dog" with a little cartoon dog printed on them. Because I lost them and it was very hard to find a replacement pair, I stopped carrying my own sticks, if you will.

By now, it's very common to find disposable bamboo (not those trashy balsa) sticks at most Asian places, so I still don't carry my own. At home I use better ones than I do out, though. For Japanese housewares, I like Katagiri.

[cabrales]

I used to carry my own Japanese chopsticks; they were pink plastic and said "Happy Dog" with a little cartoon dog printed on them. Because I lost them and it was very hard to find a replacement pair, I stopped carrying my own sticks, if you will.

franklanguage -- Did you carry your own chopsticks because you liked them, or because they were easier to use?

When I visited the Japanese store "Sanrio" (with Hello Kitty, etc.; e.g., NY and SF), it usually had bright-colored little plastic chopsticks with cartoon characters on them. Sometimes, they were packaged with a matching spoon in a case featuring the same character. If you wanted to replace your chopsticks, that might be a good place to start looking.

http://www.sanrio.com/

(store locator; online store merchandise does not include chopsticks)

[Andy Lynes]

I eat quite quickly at home if it's just something I have thrown together - a chilli or rice salad or something, and more slowly if it's something I have laboured over which is therefore going to be more interesting and complex. I follow this trend when eating out. I probably gobble down a pizza, but take my time over a dish at The Square for instance. My wife eats quicker than I do in restaurants, but not a great deal. I drink more quickly than she does however.

One thing I really bloody hate is when people come to dinner, I do something really special and they just shovel it down. It's not meant to be insulting I know and I realise that people eat at different speeds but I find it a bit godsmacking when food I have taken hours, if not days preparing, disappears in seconds. Anyone else experienced that?

[AdamLawrence]

I drink more quickly than she does however.

One thing I really bloody hate is when people come to dinner, I do something really special and they just shovel it down. It's not meant to be insulting I know and I realise that people eat at different speeds but I find it a bit godsmacking when food I have taken hours, if not days preparing, disappears in seconds. Anyone else experienced that?

Andy, from my experience men seem generally to drink more quickly than women. Oddly that didn't used to be the case with Lucy and me - when we first met, at university, she could drink me under the table any day of the week. Now she drinks perhaps twice as slowly as I, though she still refuses to drink halves. Makes her a cheap date, though.  

As to your guests, don't you think you're setting yourself up for a fall by investing so much emotional capital in your food? If you provide 'serious' food to people who aren't necessarily 'serious' eaters, is it fair to expect them to savour it in the way someone who had more experience eating food of that quality would do? To that end, I've basically given up cooking complex food when we have guests, though I will often do something a little more fancy for a starter. I don't want to have to gulp my own first course and zoom back into the kitchen to finish and plate the main course. I've rationalised it by telling myself that guests have come to spend time with us, and that the cooking is secondary.

If I want to cook something really fancy, I'll just do it for the two of us. Or perhaps with one or two guests, specifically my regular culinary sparring partner, with whom I can share the cooking load (We keep saying we must take a weekend out to butcher and deal with a whole pig - making sausages, brawn, confit, etc - but haven't got round to it yet)

Adam

[Andy Lynes]

BTW - I meant gobsmacking of course!

Adam, I think you may be right about this, but we don't entertain that often, and it's a good excuse for me to spend the whole day in the kitchen listening to the radio!

I enjoy it when people are suprised by what they get and they do appreciate it I'm sure, I think I just need to lower my expectations of the importance my guests are going to place on the food as opposed to the opportunity to relax, drink some wine and have a chat.

[Niall]

I have a slightly different problem with the fact that my other half eats much slower than me.. because she eats slow and is more used to colder food than I am, her definition of "Hot Food" while cooking dinner can leave something to be desired; she thinks little of draining veggies and leaving them off the heat with the lids off for up to 10 minutes before serving, leaving them not hot enough by the time i get to eating. She's an only child, I come from a family of six... I'm working on her though....  She hasn't drained the veggies for the main before the starter for nearly two years now....

.. although she can still eat Noodle soups a lot faster than I can.

[cabrales]

One thing I really bloody hate is when people come to dinner, I do something really special and they just shovel it down. It's not meant to be insulting I know and I realise that people eat at different speeds but I find it a bit godsmacking when food I have taken hours, if not days preparing, disappears in seconds.

Andy -- When certain diners shovel the food down, do they provide any verbal communication about the quality of your cuisine or ask for additional servings? Would such indicia of appreciation of your food make you feel better?

I have been wondering whether my relatively slow eating pace (and it's only slightly more slowly) might be contributing to special treatment I have been receiving with greater frequency at restaurants visited for the first time recently. Perhaps at least some restaurants may perceive that diners who eat more slowly enjoy their food more.

[cabrales]

nyfirepatrolchef_10-26 -- When you prepare food for fellow firemen, do you consider how quickly the food can be eaten? Also, how quickly do you eat and does that affect your enjoyment of food while on duty?