food museum blog

World's Largest Restaurant

Apparently you and 6013 other diners can eat Syrian, Chinese or Indian food at the Damascus Gate Restaurant in a suburb of Damascus, Syria. The three year-old mega eatery recently made the Guinness records list.  Hard to say exactly what the place is like,  ( the restaurant's website is no longer up and running,) but the food is said to be good, and it looks as if customers there enjoy an indoor/outdoor experience. 

This place caught my eye because it's named for the  famous Damascus Gate built in Jerusalem's wall in the  1500's. The gate leads visitors directly into the Muslim market, and appears to bisect the Christian and Muslim sectors.   Somehow this is a metaphor to chew on.

Biggest is not always better, of course,  except in decisive American elections.

( Thanks tohttp://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/adjudications/080609_Largest_restaurant.aspx for photo.)

Sharing a Table at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

So there was John McCain in white tie, then a guy with a bright red little hat, then Barack Obama in white tie, all three sitting at a silly looking long table, the two politicians making nice, jovial and witty,  in an attempt to raise money for Catholic charities.  This was New York's 62nd Al Smith Dinner, named after a Democratic politician who was elected Governor of New York 4 times. Oh--and he ran for President and lost to Herbert Hoover.

(You may have seen clips of the event on YouTube, with some  big laughs and complimentary words courtesy each candidate. )

What struck me was the dinner part--because where else can people who are competing fiercely for the same prize sit down together in relative harmony? Even your cranky relatives do it at the occasional food-oriented holiday, right? Check your pistols, robo-calls,  and exagerrated fliers at the door, gentlemen, and all that.

 I have no clue as to what was served at the Al Smith dinner table. A possibly inappropriate-to-the-times lavish spread, no doubt. Obama did allude to champagne, however, so presumably the main dish was not rubber chicken.

Elitist Eats on the Campaign Trail

 

In a NYTimes piece on Obama's right hand guy, Reggie Love, we learn the following tidbits about the candidate's tastes:

"...when it comes to food, Senator Obama “eats pretty much anything, from chicken wings and barbecue and ribs to grilled fish and steamed broccoli.” But when he is campaigning in a small town with limited options, a cheeseburger is always a good bet. (“Cheddar is the cheese of choice,” Mr. Love added.)

He knows that “the boss,” as he calls Mr. Obama, likes MET-Rx chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew — Black Forest Berry Honest Tea. He keeps a supply of both on hand."

 I think we've all realized the guy does not drink coffee. We also have to come to grips with the fact that he, unlike G.H.W. Bush, likes broccoli, as well as spinach, but essentially dislikes asparagus. Delighted to have a potential president who's at least conversant with veggies, I think I'll go patriotically chomp on a carrot.

Eat Crap, Win Voters' Hearts and Minds? Part Two: The Booze Factor

"Mocked for not finishing his waffles, he (  Obama) has made a joke about his newfound willingness to drink beer in blue-collar bars and sop up the gravy at working-class diners. After he lost the Pennsylvania primary to a beer-swilling, whisky-downing Hillary, Obama mordantly announced to his staff, "OK, now I'll eat anything."  This week's Newsweek cover story is about Senator Obama and his team.

So many silly issues, dumb attacks about nothing--I wonder how many of those who voted for G.W. Bush because they thought he was the kind of guy they'd like to have a beer with have actually had a beer with him during the past eight years. Please contact me, wherever you are.

Meanwhile, if you haven't had a politically incorrect laugh lately, take a gander through That Hillary Show, my new personal favorite web offering. The most recent video is up top, wherein Hillary urges Bill to keep drinking with the denizens of a bar in West Virginia. The creation of the clever and focused Rosemary Watson, it features a dogged, yet addled Hillary fighting on, and on, and on. The show has finally had some play at the NYTimes and The Atlantic--wish I had blogged the link earlier because I have been enjoying these for some time.
( This YouTube  pic of Rosemary at left is lousy, but all I could find at the mo'.)

Pumped for the Primaries? Krispy Kreme 'Em!

" Anyone who finishes without vomiting is a winner," says the young dude on YouTube. You thought he was referring to Senators Obama and Clinton, right?
Wrong! In my ceaseless quest to find rich foodish material for this blog, and to honor America's democratic process and the IN and NC primaries tomorrow,  I explored YouTube's offerings re "eating in Indiana," and "eating in North Carolina."

The result?

Most of "Indiana eating" was at the State Fair, with the usual sausages and deep-fried testicles and what-not. And too many shots of depressingly fat Americans.
So-- I chose to share with you instead this vid view of the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a 4 mile race held at NC State in January, wherein the runners are urged to chomp down and swallow a dozen KK donuts at the 2 mile mark, then continue on to the finish line.  12 donuts, 2400 calories, some running, loads of retching,  and all to benefit  Children's Hospital.

What's not to like? Alas, the local and very earnest tv peeps reporting on this offbeat story have worked diligently to make it extraordinarily dull and lacking in humor.
Sorry.

Obama Leads in Ohio Department of Food Provision

Referring back to the motto of The FOOD Museum, "First, we eat. Then we do everything else," stated by writer M.F.K. Fisher, I would say that the Senator Obama volunteers in Columbus clearly have their priorities straight. Along with building a strong grassroots, interconnected presence in Ohio, they have made feeding their hard-working vols a priority.

Check out this report comparing Obama's campaign with that of Senator Clinton:

"At the end of a regular e-mail to Democratic Party activists, the Clinton campaign attached a plea last week begging volunteers to bring food to staff members working at the campaign headquarters. When ( Obama head volunteer Valli) Frausto read the message, she chuckled. Obama's campaign already had a volunteer whose only job is to coordinate the dozens of people who pledged to cook lunch and dinner for Obama's 60 staff members in Columbus every day through March 4. "  Emphasis mine.

Now that's planning you can digest, darlings!

Super Super Bowl

See, it's a food thing--a bowl! And the game itself was the best I've seen in years, the most exciting underdog toenail gripping 4th quarter in memory. ( I was, with my Dad, a Giants fan as a kid....and it all came back last night.)

But on to food during the game--mine? Freshly popped corn, with olive oil and chile/herb powder, salt, and, to honor America, some melted butter....an organic "pink lady" apple, a glass of red wine, and thou, Eli Manning.

Post game, apparently the city of Boston is ante-ing up the following to the city of New York--a mayor to mayor thing.

Bloomberg gets:

--100 cups of New England Clam Chowder from Legal Sea Foods;
--42 pounds of coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts in honor of Super Bowl XLII
--12 dozen Boston Cream Pies and 12 Dozen Parker House Rolls (in honor of Tom Brady’s #12) from Boston’s Omni Parker House Hotel
--100 Kayem Old Tyme franks and 100 al fresco sun-dried tomato chicken sausages, the best-selling dogs in New England
--20 Pizzas from Sal’s – one pizza for each selection on the menu
--5 Cases of Brigham’s Boston You’re My Home Ice Cream and 5 cases of Cherry on the Top Frozen Yogurt Bars from Elan.
--100 servings of Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt

Now who will actually take home these goodies and eat them, is not known, at least to me. Maybe Mayor Bloomberg will offer the spread to the candidates feverishly flitting in and out of his city in search of delegates.

(The list cribbed from The Bostonist at http://bostonist.com/2008/01/30/gutbusters_mayo.php.)

Nothing To Do This Weekend? Practice Speed Eating

Another Slice of History Burned--the Cutty Sark

The "extreme clipper" ship the Cutty Sark, the vessel that graced the bottle of whisky my father-in-law always drank, has been badly burned today, as it lay in drydock in Greenwich, England being restored. A perfect example of its kind, and the last in the world, the ship was slim and trim for speed, its carrying capacity less than other clippers--but in the English tea trade of 1869 speed was primary.

The Cutty Sark's owner, Jock Willis, wanted her to be " the fastest ship in the annual race to bring home the first of the new season's tea from China."

Incidentally, Edward Bramah, who established and runs Bramah's Museum of Tea and Coffee in London, told us on our visit a while back that tea in the UK was a key element of the Industrial Revolution there because factory owners could keep their employees awake, warm and sustained very cheaply on tea with milk and sugar.

( Photo by Wendy Bumgardner, http://walking.about.com/od/trailbritain/ig/Greenwich-Photos/Cutty-Sark-Bow-View.htm)

Who Are We Wearing? Too Soon to Know: Blogger's Choice Awards

Valued friends, family, regulars as well as newbies to this site:  The FOOD Museum Blog has been nominated for a Blogger's Choice Award.  The category itself is Food, and the numerous other nominees focus primarily on recipes and restaurant reviews--ours is really in a category of its own, say we modestly, Eclectic Foodie Reportage.

Whatever...we are mighty pleased.

Go vote! ( See Button on Left Column.) ( Alas, one must Sign Up and login and all that tedious stuff....so we will understand if you lack the patience. At the moment, under Food Blogs, we are on page 39.)

Theng kew.