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Mar. 23rd, 2005 | 08:36 am

Current readings: Ex-Libris, which Drew says really wants to be The Name of the Rose but fails. I'm enjoying it, it involves history and a mystery. Not enough bodice-ripping for my taste, but it'll do. It's no Eco, that's for sure, but it is entertaining. Also reading The Man Who Ate Everything. I am loving this book, but then again, I love most books about food. I could with a little less of the guy's snobbery against picky eaters, but it's chock full of learnin' and funny stories and interesting facts. I just will never understand why anyone would care about other people's pickiness. So I don't want to eat fish, foie gras, and cute woodland critters. I don't see why anyone other than me (ok, and Drew, since I do the cooking and my pickiness rules our dinners) would care what goes in my belly. Also finished The Time Traveler's Wife a week or so ago, and loved it. Very nice piece of fluff reading, complete with a tear-inducing ending. Good stuff.

Robocop didn't eat his breakfast this morning, and was crouched in the back of his cage. I'm starting to get worried about the little guy. He was totally fine yesterday.
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Comments {27}

nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:02 pm (UTC)
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Honestly, I think you'll be hard pressed to find a book by someone who loves food enough to make it his/her life's work that doesn't convey some degree of snobbery about picky eaters.

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:08 pm (UTC)
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I believe that, but I just can't fathom why they care. Does it really put anyone else out if I really don't want to eat a lobster? I say that's just more lobster for people who actually enjoy it.

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Eric

from: [info]cosmicserpent
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:32 pm (UTC)
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Being a foodie to some degree, I have to say it's more this incredible disbelief that occurs, like I sit and think "HOW THE HELL CAN YOU NOT LIKE LOBSTER, IT'S EFFING TASTY?!?"

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:39 pm (UTC)
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More for you! Lobster for all my friends!

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:37 pm (UTC)
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One immediate reason I can think of involve ssupply and demand, which affect the availability of food and ultimately determines what is and what is not available. For instance, if I want to make chicken stock, I have to go out and search for a chicken that comes with its heart and gizzard because it has stopped being standard practice to provide them. It's a minor example, but because most people are squeamish about giblets, folks who use them lose out.

More extreme is the Turkey. The American White is the bird that most everyone in the US thinks of when they think of turkey. It's big, dumb, and incapable of breeding on its own. Its meat is also largely tasteless. The single advantage to the American White is that it has a tremendous amount of breast meat. It's an animal bred for the American palate. Purdue has been adapting chickens in much the same way, and not surprisingly, people are beginning to talk about chicken as an utterly unremarkable food.

There's also the question of variety. In most US markets, you're able to choose from about 1/2 dozen different kinds of fish. It's not that other species aren't tasty, it's simply that the industry can't sell something that hasn't been popularized. It affects produce as well. Sometimes I can't find something as simple as leeks or turnips.

Beyond that, there is the artist's disappointment that a person won't even consider his/her creation simply because the medium is considered unpalatable, but that's a little more esoteric...

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:38 pm (UTC)
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Man, I need to edit before I hit send. Sorry for the typos.

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:57 pm (UTC)
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Well, ok. I can definitely see your point from that perspective. But the folks who really want to seek out this stuff tend to shop in places other than Costco/Starmarket/Foodmaster, right? I can totally understand your reasoning, and when I want fresh figs, I grumble that I have to haul over to Pemberton Farms or someplace to find them. I guess my point is, aren't the people who want the exotic and strange food probably supporting smaller/organic/better stores than the average supermarket?

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 03:07 pm (UTC)
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What you're describing is happening in some places, but in others, if you want something "out of the ordinary," you're simply out of luck. In places like Terre Haute, IN, "out of the ordinary" can mean "a passable brie" or even "fresh produce."

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wisdom_seeker

from: [info]wisdom_seeker
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 04:08 pm (UTC)
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Sad, but true.

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 04:37 pm (UTC)
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D'oh, I forget that we urban dwellers have it so much better. Maybe "middle America" has their underwears in a twitch all the time because they can't get good brie.

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 04:55 pm (UTC)
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Or perhaps because their underwears is in a twitch all the time, they don't want good brie. Consider:

It ain't Monterry Jack or Cheddar;
It's covered in mold; and
It's "French."

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wisdom_seeker

from: [info]wisdom_seeker
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 06:59 pm (UTC)
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I thougt Monterrey Jack was a kind of Cheddar...

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 07:16 pm (UTC)
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You just asked so you could correct my typo.

~I am the queen of France.~

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wisdom_seeker

from: [info]wisdom_seeker
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 07:20 pm (UTC)
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No, I didn't. I never buy Monterrey Jack; I always buy the Vermont White Extra Sharp Cheddar, so I was genuinely un-sure if I had gotten by cheese knowledge confused...

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

Symptoms

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 08:07 pm (UTC)
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Ah, but why do you buy the Vermont Cheddar? Why can't you get Cheddar from Illinois or goat cheeses from southern Indiana without ordering online or having to drive to find them?

I'm seriously jonesing to try Capriole's O'Banon.

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wisdom_seeker

Re: Symptoms

from: [info]wisdom_seeker
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 08:19 pm (UTC)
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'Cuz the Vermont cheddar is the only one that's not been oog dyed orange. You should come out here again, soon, and we should plan your trip ahead, so that we can be sure of getting to the Capriole cheese-shop.

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nudity-hating voyeur advocate (presumably)

Re: Symptoms

from: [info]komos
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 09:10 pm (UTC)
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That's a whole other problem, but that speaks to my idea, too. Standardized food production is geared to the lowest common denomenator in order to be marketable to the widest possible audience. Dyes are introduced as soon as someone decides that a pale cheese or a white chicken appear unappetizing.

On the other tack, there are good, undyed Cheddars from Illinois that I have as much (if not more) access to than you do, and yet, you're just across the border. You end up getting Vermont Cheddar just like we end up getting Idaho potatoes... They're not necessarily better products, but definitely higher up on the standardized food distribution chain.

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Eric

from: [info]cosmicserpent
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 03:13 pm (UTC)
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The other thing that always bothers me about most picky eaters is they say they don't like something without having ever tried it.

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Sean

from: [info]spacedthekeys
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:46 pm (UTC)
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Hey there, since wer're talking about books. When I'm not reading for school, I have sunk into "Crime and Punishment" Pretty deep. Philosophical. Interesting stuff.

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 04:38 pm (UTC)
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Good for you! I've never read it, and am a little bit daunted by how hefty it seems.

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wisdom_seeker

from: [info]wisdom_seeker
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 06:58 pm (UTC)
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I had to read it for junior year High School English. I remember getting to page 73 and just wanting it to end. Maybe I'd be better able to appreciate it, now, but then, it d.r.a.g.g.e.d.. I get the willies just thinking about it.

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Psalm 23:5

from: [info]c_m_i
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:54 pm (UTC)
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Of course, like an idiot I've googled all sort of rabbit GI stasis stuff and am minorly stressed out. I took him out and gave him a tummy rub, but he was more interested in hiding in the castle or sitting in a corner.

Sigh. I'd rather not spend the 200 bucks on an Angell visit, but if he's not well when we get home (and hasn't touched his food)...

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:58 pm (UTC)
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Did he nibble at anything? If he's not looking good tonight, we can see about making an appointment with Dr. Mertz for tomorrow evening, after I sign the lease...

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Psalm 23:5

from: [info]c_m_i
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 03:05 pm (UTC)
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No nibbles. Hopefully he'll have a nosh today while we're at work.

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wisdom_seeker

from: [info]wisdom_seeker
date: Mar. 24th, 2005 08:15 pm (UTC)
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Just wonderin' how the bun is?

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from: gabrieceleste
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 02:56 pm (UTC)
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I live with a picky eater and used to be one myself. I wouldn't say that I am snotty towards picky eaters but I do get frustrated especially since I do know both sides.

So you liked the Time Traveler's Wife? I couldn't get past the first fifty pages. Maybe I will give it another go...

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Gimme Indie Rock!

from: [info]wildflowersoul
date: Mar. 23rd, 2005 10:54 pm (UTC)
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I did like it, but if you didn't like the first 50 pages, you probably wouldn't like the rest. It's very fluffy, but I like fluffy books. It also involves a punk rock librarian, and well... you know...

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