What Is Your Community's Inoffensive Meal?

[Chris Amirault]

Last night, I went to the annual banquet for the United Way of RI, and I had the following meal:

• tossed salad -- mostly iceberg lettuce with a few microgreens, tomato wedges, Italian dressing
  
• sliced Italian bread with butter and margarine
  
• penne pasta with red sauce and grated "Parmesan" cheese on the side
  
• roasted half of a chicken with roasted green beans and boiled then roasted potatoes
  
• slice of spumoni-flavored ice cream pie with oreo cookie crust
  

I was at the table with some born-and-bred Rhode Islanders, a recent arrival from the Philadelphia area, and a couple raised in central Ohio that had lived in Corpus Christi TX. We got to talking about the typical, inoffensive banquet meals in different communities in which we had lived. Several of us had only had the pasta "course" (it's served at the same time as the main) in RI; the woman from Pennsylvania said that, while chicked was typical, she was more likely to see a split breast without the dark meat and with a mushroom sauce of some sort.

It got me thinking about what sorts of meals different communities, broadly defined, would serve at these sorts of events. (Not events that are particularly defined by a specific ethnic or cultural group, mind you, but events intended to be inclusive.) It's my sense that the food decisions at these events are designed to minimize offense -- and that those decisions probably would say a lot about the the meaning of food and eating in the communities in which the events are held.

So what would be served at one of these sorts of events in your community? I'm particularly interested to hear not only from different regions of the U.S. but also from different parts of the globe.

[BarbaraY]

Around here the usual meal is roast or charbroiled Tri Tip. The salad is mostly iceburg with Wishbone Italian dressing. There's usually a potato gratin or scallop. Sometimes garlic bread and other times rolls.

Dessert will vary but it's often Sysco Cheesecake.

For community fund raisers the Spaghetti Feed is very popular, same salad and overcooked spaghetti. I don't go.

Please remember this is a rural community and a lot of things are difficult to get.

Edited September 22, 2006 by BarbaraY (log)

[patti]

Gumbo with white rice, potato salad, french bread, and for dessert, bread pudding. Maybe a small side salad of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and ranch dressing. Yes, I know, starch, starch, and a side of starch.

[BeauNoze]

Chicken and waffles is really big here.

[menon1971]

Around my office it is BBQ, usually pulled pork and chicken, sometimes ribs (I feel sorry for those who either do not eat meat or pork, because often the building reeks of it - the deep south is not a vegetarians paradise). Sides usually include baked beans, vinegar slaw, potato salad, and for desert anything from cookies to banana pudding. This is also seems to be a popular choice for catered events. Fancier shindigs generally have ham biscuits or something like shrimp and grits.

[MarketStEl]

I'll back up your recent transplant from Philadelphia by recalling what the menu options were when I attended the Delaware County Press Club's monthly luncheon for the first time this past Wednesday:

Baked stuffed chicken breast with mushroom sauce, green beans and carrots*, whipped potatoes

or

Tossed salad for the non-meat-eaters

*This was held at one of those Olde Maine Line-type establishments, D'Ignazio's Towne House in Media. Green Bean Casserole would have been gauche.

Suffice it to say that if it's a banquet or business meeting, there will be chicken breast served.

[Raynickben]

Dallas, TX:

It never fails when attending a business or chamber event we get mixed greens with a choice of raspberry vinaigrette or ranch, followed by chicken with an herbed lemon butter sauce thickened with cornstarch, wild rice, and mushy green beans. Dessert is, yes indeedy, the Sysco cheesecake with a fanned strawberry to the side.

[tammylc]

Okay, this isn't really answering the question, but I think it fits. I had a really interesting experience a while ago, coordinating RSVPs for a dinner meeting. Here were the options:

1. Macadamia-Crusted Lake Superior Whitefish with dried fruit rice pilaf and mango butter sauce

2. Cranberry Port Chicken, pan-roasted, topped with cranberry port sauce served with wild rice and walnut pilaf

3. Baked Penne Pasta with zesty wild mushroom ragu

I ran a poll on my online journal, asking people a) what they thought the most popular choice would be and b) what they personally would choose. The results were interesting.

66% of people thought that the chicken would be most popular - hotel chicken is endemic, afterall, must be for a reason. 30% thought the pasta would be most popular. 4% of people thought the fish would be most popular.

In their personal selections for the poll, 41% of people chose the fish, 38% chose the chicken, and 21% chose the pasta.

For the actual event, 82% chose the fish, 12% chose the chicken, and 6% chose the pasta.

[Chris Amirault]

I think that this gets to my title's reference to "inoffensive meals." I don't think we're talking about what people actually prefer. Rather, I think we're talking about what people believe is the least offensive menu choice, the one that is likely to prevent explicit objections and frustration. So, while everyone thinks that chicken is the best or most popular choice, it's really just the one that no one will send back.

[shellfishfiend]

I grew up in southwest Arkansas and catered events usually featured either fried chicken or bbg (pulled pork). The sides were either mashed potatos or potato salad, macaroni and cheese, slaw and beans. There was the ever popular white dinner roll and cobbler for dessert. Any salad served consisted of iceberg lettuce, a tiny bit of red cardboard (aka store bought tomatoe) and commercial ranch dressing.

[mizducky]

Okay, this isn't really answering the question, but I think it fits.  I had a really interesting experience a while ago, coordinating RSVPs for a dinner meeting.  Here were the options:

1. Macadamia-Crusted Lake Superior Whitefish with dried fruit rice pilaf and mango butter sauce

2. Cranberry Port Chicken, pan-roasted, topped with cranberry port sauce served with wild rice and walnut pilaf

3. Baked Penne Pasta with zesty wild mushroom ragu

I ran a poll on my online journal, asking people a) what they thought the most popular choice would be and b) what they personally would choose.  The results were interesting.

66% of people thought that the chicken would be most popular - hotel chicken is endemic, afterall, must be for a reason.  30% thought the pasta would be most popular.  4% of people thought the fish would be most popular. 

In their personal selections for the poll, 41% of people chose the fish, 38% chose the chicken, and 21% chose the pasta.

For the actual event, 82% chose the fish, 12% chose the chicken, and 6% chose the pasta.

←

Now that's interesting. I have made a practice of avoiding the fish option at any of these kinds of "official" dinners, certain they would dry it out or turn it to mush or otherwise ruin it; and that most people would likewise avoid the fish either for similar reasons or because there seem to be so many fish-phobes out in the American public. But then I noticed you are posting from Ann Arbor--so I'm thinking your local population is much more familiar with, and much more fond of, the local lake fish.

When I was in Seattle, I recall salmon being a frequent offering at these kinds of functions--either as the inoffensive chunk o' fillet with some kind of sauce and/or crust treatment, or very occasionally various attempts at Native American style barbequed salmon. And at least one wedding dinner buffet featured the whole chilled poached sides of salmon--but that was definitely a cut above the usual community dinner. I would occasionally violate my don't-order-fish rule for these dinners if salmon was an option--I found it tended to survive the inevitable heat-and-hold issues of large catered dinners better than other fish I could think of, though it would still arrive more well-done than I would have preferred. But anything to avoid the dreaded rubber chicken breast!

I haven't had to attend any such functions since I moved down here to San Diego, so I dunno what they do here. Totally guessing, but I'd bet cash money that salsa and/or avocado make appearances as garnishes on otherwise standard inoffensive dishes.

[miladyinsanity]

Here, it's curry chicken. Usually, both bread and rice are offered as sides.

You might have a fried rice or noodle dish to go with it, and fried chicken is always popular.

[Chris Amirault]

Just a quick administrative reminder: If you haven't already set "Your Location" on your Profile Info page, please do! (Just click on the "Options" button on the right of any window, and then click on "Edit Profile Info" on the left hand menu. The Profile Info page has a "Your Location" field; whatever you write there will appear below your avatar.) That way we can all see from where you're posting. Thanks!

[MarketStEl]

Now that's interesting. I have made a practice of avoiding the fish option at any of these kinds of "official" dinners, certain they would dry it out or turn it to mush or otherwise ruin it; and that most people would likewise avoid the fish either for similar reasons or because there seem to be so many fish-phobes out in the American public. But then I noticed you are posting from Ann Arbor--so I'm thinking your local population is much more familiar with, and much more fond of, the local lake fish.

←

Now this is interesting, I guess...

I add my contribution and then go off to lunch in the dining hall (see my foodblog for a description of the place).

Today's featured entrée was baked flounder.

This was the first honest-to-God dud I've eaten in Widener's dining hall. The fish fillet came with a coating of Cor-Ten steel (okay, it wasn't really that dark rusty color distinctive to this pre-oxidized variety, but the breading was that hard and difficult to cut through) and had been baked until it was about as dry as Phoenix in the summer.

Now, dining hall fare is not quite the same as banquet or business-event fare--it's usually a notch or two lower on the execution scale, or the quality-of-ingredients scale, or both; besides, it also has to be a lot more varied across time than standard banquet fare because the same people are going to eat this stuff day after day after day.

But it does share with banquet fare a need to be inoffensive--that is, it must appeal to as wide a range of palates as possible. And both are produced in mass quantities during a narrow time window. I'd suggest, then, that this sort of institutional fare is a close cousin of the sort of food we're talking about here--maybe even more so because--as has been suggested about fish dishes already--the food itself tends to be either bland, or indifferently executed, or of only decent quality, or some combination of the foregoing.

I know Aramark does catering as part of its business--it has to if it is going to be a total food service provider to its customers. Maybe someone out there who's sat down to an Aramark-catered business lunch can offer some data points for comparison?

Edited September 22, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[Rehovot]

Ah, yes, the dining hall...aka cafeteria...aka buffet...aka menze.

The choices at a Czech dining hall or gastrocafeteria are designed to be cheap, traditional, and bland. The community's lunch involves soup that met chicken, at some point; some kind of meat (chicken, beef, pork, rabbit) with sauce and dumplings. Or meat with white rice. Or fish square with potatoes.

The basic meal is meat + starch.

Inoffensive? I don't think so...

[BarbaraY]

Neglected to mention above that I am going to an event tomorrow. We selected baked Salmon and the Eternal Tri-Tip as choices.

Will report back tomorrow.

[petite tête de chou]

It seems that whenever there is a church fund-raiser or charity auction a spaghetti "feed" with garlic bread (no fresh garlic was harmed in it's creation) and iceberg salad is in order. I live in a logging and farming community that has seen better days and folks will tend to stick with the familiar standbys. This means spaghetti, steak n- potatoes, pizza (only two pizza joints in town), Americanized Chinese (very, very sweet dishes), Americanized Mexican (most items taste of the cans they came from) and fast food. -sigh- The culinary suffering I tolerate to live where I want.

[annanstee]

Hmmm.

Thinking on the potlucks at the office, there is pretty much guaranteed to be:

Chow Mein

Spinach salad with mandarin segments

Pasta Salad with tastless dressing and a few specs of carrot and bell pepper

A hollowed out sourdough with spinach dip

Sushi someone bought at the mall.

In the community events-

Chile, teryaki wings, green salads (rarely iceberg), salad made from broken up ramen noodles. Can't think of much else.

[gus_tatory]

I think that this gets to my title's reference to "inoffensive meals."

←

what is being talked about here as "inoffensive" i think of as boring wedding food, or dinner-at-a-conference-in-a-hotel food.

the lunches seem to be getting better, with more fruit and veg, salads, whole grain breads, etc., and "international" options (tabbouleh, for example).

but the dinners are always chicken or fish, steak or quiche, pasta/pizza combo, yawn...

[mikeycook]

In the suburban areas outside of New York (Long Island, Westchester, Northern New Jersey), the Italian classics seem to hold sway. You can generally count on two of the following dishes at any event (and sometimes all four).

1. Baked Ziti

2. Penne a la Vodka

3. Chicken Francese

4. Veal or Chicken Marsala

In addition, there is the ubiquitous Caesar salad and Italian bread.

The Chicken Francese always cracks me up as a dish. Nothing completes an Italian feast like "Chicken French-style".

[tammylc]

For another take on the question, we get lunch brought in a lot around the office, and "build your own sandwich" trays are ubiquitous. And most of the time we don't even get to have roast beef on them anymore, because one person was up in arms about it being too rare. So it's turkey and ham and tuna salad. With green salad on the side, and maybe fruit salad if we're lucky. One of the caterers we use has a great assortment of interesting side salads, but we always get the ho-hum green salad and fruit salad.

[gfron1]

Rural New Mexico: Green chile enchiladas (unrolled) topped with a fried egg (always offered as an option to not have the egg), refried beans, rice, tortillas and nasty cookies.

[SuzySushi]

Here in Hawaii, you have to distinguish between hotel banquet and community potluck events.

I haven't been to a hotel banquet in a long time, but the "inoffensive" menu generally runs to some kind of chicken breast, sauteed baby vegetables, a fairly dry and flavorless rice pilaf (maybe with a few strands of wild rice thrown in), mesclun salad, and a frozen white chocolate dessert on raspberry coulis.

Community potluck events feature a groaning board mixing local and ethnic traditions: hamburgers, teriyaki chicken, kalua pig (shredded smoked pork), kalbi (Korean BBQ shortribs), chili, sashimi (almost always maguro/ahi/tuna) and/or sushi (nigiri, maki, and/or inari sushi -- here called "cone sushi"), various kinds of poke (seasoned raw fish cubes), lomi-lomi salmon (chopped salted salmon mixed with chopped tomatoes and scallions), possibly a platter of shrimp or crab legs, chow mein or yakisoba, steamed white rice, maybe fried rice as well, maybe gyoza (potstickers) or shu mai (steamed Chinese dumplings), maybe fried spring rolls and/or Vietnamese summer rolls, potato salad, macaroni salad, green salad. For dessert, there are assorted pies and cakes, cookies, and always brownies.

Edited to add: Oh yes, based on MizDucky's post below, there's also a platter of cut-up fruit, usually watermelon, other melons, and pineapple.

Edited September 22, 2006 by SuzySushi (log)

[Kim Shook]

Yup, the ubiquitous chicken breast. And just try to change it! When I was involved in planning events for my daughter’s choir when she was in HS, I suggested changing the menus from rubber chicken or the annual spaghetti dinner. No way were they going to change it. I realized that: a). they didn’t care that much about the taste of the food and/or b). they actually liked it.

Went to NYC with this same group and we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, Medieval Times, some big, loud, lousy bbq place near Times Sq. and saw "Beauty and the Beast". Luckily, the child and I snuck off during 'free day' and got to do some cool stuff and eat great food w/ a friend who lives there. Those who stayed behind thought we had wasted our day, because we had missed out on Rockefeller Center and shopping. You caint larn some folks .

[christine007]

we see a lot of pasta, usually rigatoni in meat tomato sauce, and very often stuffed cabbage too.

Sides are whipped potatos, mixed vegetables, like the kind you can buy frozen, and white rolls and margarine.

Dessert varies, usually little brownies or cookie type bars.