food museum blog

Fat Americans, Again

So I've been away, traveling up and down the east coast, visiting friends and family, and doing some biz.  I pulled into a roadside rest area somewhere in New England with the usual fast food subjects on hand and decided to buy a coffee at Cinnabon.

As I stood in line, naturally I noted and smelled the alluring and catastrophically caloric buns. (730 calories per bun, according to the Internets. ) Now hey--I love to eat something divinely wickedly tasty once in a while. But of late I have been, shall we say, cutting back? So I spotted some tiny versions of the full-sized buns and when it was my turn asked for one, with the coffee.

"Honey, you have to buy 6 of those," said the clerk.

'This, " I blurted out, gesturing melodramatically and then slapping the counter,  " is why Americans are so fat!"  Rather than calling security, the woman serving me the coffee threw her head back and guffawed with gusto. 

"Ain't that the truth, honey, ain't that the truth."

Deliver Me From Bland!

Amazingly, I ate lunch at my second Seventh Day Adventist-inspired vegan joint in almost as many days. This one, Little Lad's, is in Portland, Maine, and it seems that the same fellow started them both--and others. So maybe he likes bland food that features  descriptive names but tastes almost exactly the same?  ( New Hampshire's stuffed pepper did have a tasty tomato sauce.)

We ate lentil pilaf, Armenian style,  "Shepherd's Pie," fresh corn, slabs of potatoes, and salad. I doubt that an Armenian came within an inch of those lentils.  The corn and the salad were fine. When I asked for black pepper, I was told that the cooks think pepper is tough on the digestive tract, so no dice. The salt, too, was hidden, but available.

Little Lad's sells perfectly popped and seasoned popcorn in bags that is exceptionally good, I must say. They give you small sample bowls with your lunch and, of course, I bought a bag to take away. (If the popcorn is distinctive, then why is the carb-heavy food so...?)

A fellow blogger who lives near London makes delectable vegan food--as do many others inclined in that direction--so there is no reason for same to be utterly lacking in distinction. Or spices.

For supper in Portland? Gilbert's Chowder House--homemade onion rings! Fried clams with bellies! Oh yes, mighty fine, as a once in a blue moon treat. We neglected to have cole slaw.

Tomorrow I head south, back to the wicked NY/DC metro corridor, where  I most likely will not be enticed into another such vegan eatery.

ps   Don't miss eating at Flatbread if you are in Portland. Pizzas and ethical stances of distinction.

(Super)market Plunges Et Al

Eavesdropping on an informal gaggle of what appeared to be Trader Joe's' top bananas chatting hard against the coffee wall, I heard that they had just come from a meeting with "corporate." ( A second Albuquerque TJ's is opening any minute.)

So I stepped up and said, "Excuse me, but what about Florida?"

A big guy in a Hawaiian shirt replied--"Funny you should ask. FL was top of the list, but now it's a no go. That state has the most foreclosures, the first decline in population in decades, and high unemployment."

"But wouldn't that make space less expensive? And more people looking for the well-priced? offerings TJ specializes in? "

"That's what I thought," he said. "But corporate doesn't think it's a good bet."

(Damn.)

Meanwhile, the WaPost reports that supermarkets in the DC Metro area are cutting prices, or rather as the writers hyperbolically put it more than once, prices are "plunging."  On things like Folger's coffee and detergent. Stores who had upgraded with sushi and exotic cheeses to entice higher end consumers now are cutting the heck out of t. paper prices.

I, for one, am more likely to eschew sushi than t. paper in these troubled economic times.

Whole Foods Snafu?

Soon after Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that contained this paragraph, ""The last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health care system..," some of WF's liberal, affluent customers cried "Woe!" Or more likely, whoa! 

The baby zucchinis started to hit the fan. Mutterings of boycotting  WF were heard in the land. Spokespersons for WF said the remarks did not reflect the corporation's views. Wait--Mackey is the CEO, right? Huh?

Union types weighed in. According to a report on HuffPost, "Now the Change To Win Investment Group and United Food And Commercial Workers Union -- both a part of the Change To Win federation of unions representing six million workers -- have put out statements criticizing Mackey and encouraging a boycott of the store." Needless to say, WF is not a union shop.

Up in Santa Fe, where people who work for WF ( and most other retail establishments) cannot afford to live, soon after Mackey's remarks, I observed eager shoppers  locking carts in their eagerness to purchase $14.99 a pound tilapia. The place was jammed, and lines were long at the checkouts.

Boycott?

Now everyone's current favorite food author Michael Pollan has said he will not boycott WF, though he disagrees with Mackey's remarks on health care.  "...Whole Foods is often right about food, and their support for the farmers matters more to me than the political views of their founder." 

Whole Foods is the country's biggest natural/organic food store--it has over 270 stores in North America and the UK, and after buying up Wild Oats, it may be the only game in town for some.

Thanks to Trader Joe's, the local growers market, and  Southwest chain ( established by the former head of Wild Oats, incidentally,)  Sunflower Farmers Market--it's not a farmers market, dare I say!--I rarely hit Whole Foods, lovely though it is. When I do, I buy Swiss vegetable broth cubes, faux Canadian bacon, and a small container of butternut squash/crab bisque which I sit down and eat in situ. That's about it. The place is way too pricey, other than its house brand of crackers, relish, and similar items.

So--to boycott?  I never darken Home Depot's door anymore, after discovering its head honcho was a huge backer of G. Dubya. Bush. But its competitor, Lowe's, is an easy alternative.

Given my pitiful purchasing patterns at the Whole Oat, I doubt my absence will be missed. I'll go back there in a month or so,  after Obama's health care legislation passes.

Homage to Teddy, and Mocha Chip

Ted Kennedy was enjoying mocha chip ice cream, my personal fave, in his last days, according to this piece in today's WaPo.

While the Howard Johnson's Mocha Chip of my ( and Kennedy's) youth is long gone, the flavor has resurfaced in offerings from Starbuck's--Java Chip Frappuccino comes close. The Internets tell me that Honey Hut, in Cleveland, Ohio, sells a nifty mocha chip.

M. chip was one of the original 28 flavors of ice cream from Howard Johnson's menu--he started his business in Quincy, Massachusetts, with homemade ice cream, doubling the butter fat content, and attracting a slew of customers.  His first roadside restaurant in 1929 led to a chain of 400 by 1954. Cleverly, Johnson had forseen the need for family eateries along the nation's toll roads.

Alas, by the late 1970's, the Hojo roadside joint was fading, as the company zoomed into the lodging business. Thereafter the brand was bought and sold many times over.

Today there are 3 actual HoJo restaurants in operation, in Bangor, Maine, Lake George, NY, and Lake Placid, NY. I visited the Lake Placid place a few years back, and gorged on fresh onion rings, fried clam roll and, mocha chip ice cream. Heavenly.

FYI  Keep up with the HoJo saga here--apparently we may see a return of Hojo's!

Americans ( Soft Drink Industry) Against Food ( Syrupy Soft Drinks) Taxes

You, too, can fight back against food tax! YEAH!   I just stumbled onto this cheery, filled-with-young-healthy-looking models website called Americans Against Food Taxes, with its healthy lunch box message. The gigantic US beverage/convenience store industry cares deeply about your health, and that of your kids, and doesn't want bananas, um, and apples, huh?, taxed. No Cokes are pictured, oddly. No 7-Up pictured, either. No crappy soft drinks pictured anywhere on the website. Gosh and golly.

On the News tab is a photo of a young guy holding a paper bag overflowing with fresh veggies. No one is going to tax bell peppers, lettuce and asparagus..........

But here's the text, as it begins the --be afraid, America, be very afraid-- message that health care is bad and scary, and soft drinks are good and American.

"Get ready, because that’s exactly what many lawmakers and advocates of health care reform have in mind to help pay for the massive health care reform being considered in Congress. Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks. Other watchdog groups are busy identifying other food items they believe are too high in sugar or fat content to tax as well."

A Coke being equated with "food".

INGREDIENTS:
CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVORS, CAFFEINE.

57MG CAFFEINE/20 OZ

65 grams of sugars, 240 calories. See sugar content of assorted drinks/juices here. And this, from a 2008 report published by newser.com:

"According to a study recently published in The Journal of School Nursing, soft drink consumption has increased by 300 percent in the past 20 years, the Allen Press reports, with 56 to 85 percent of children consuming at least one soft drink daily.

These beverages currently constitute the leading source of added sugars in the diet.."

So much to be pissed off about these days. I think I'll go cultivate my garden.

We All Scream for (Clever) Ice Creams

You recall that Ben & Jerry's  launched Yes, Pecan!  ice cream to honor the election hoopla (Barack Obama?)

Well----if you haven't seen these flapping around the Internets--here are my favorite suggestions for ice creams "honoring" Prez 43. ( For the full list go here.)

Grape Depression
Heckuva Job, Brownie!
Cluster Fudge
Iraqi Road
Chock 'n Awe
Impeachmint

Scary Peanut Satay Sauce?

As I prepared a leftover multi-grain pasta and veg dish for my lunch yesterday, I considered opening a brand new jar of Trader Joe's Peanut Satay Sauce to go with.
OY!

What about those nasty, scheming, b*****ds at Peanut Corp of Amurrica? Were they in any way involved with TJ's sauce?

I called my local TJ's and asked.   The back and forth of the staff was not that reassuring. 'Hey, Luis-- what about the Satay Sauce?  Peanuts from those guys or what?"

Silence.

Me: Errr, isn't there some kind of list?
Them:   Yeah, well, maybe, I think so, on our website.
Me: Well I know that some of your peanut trail bars are on the USDA list of tainted products.
Them: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah.
Them: Hang on.
Me: ( gnash, sigh...)
Them: No problem, no worries. The Satay Sauce is not affected.
Me: You're sure?
Them: Luis, are we sure?
Me: ( OY!)
Them: We're sure.

So the fact that I woke up at like, 2 am, with weird tummy things going on was, like, nothing to worry about?   Huh?
OK, so maybe it was just my overactive mind.

Later, like, just now, I checked the TJ's website. At the bottom of the Home page is a tiny line of type that mentions the peanut thing. And when you click on it, it takes you to a page all about their having destroyed those crappy tainted products. No mention of Satay Sauce.

New worries, though: STILTON CHEESE, for gawd's sake. How could anything biologically inappropriate penetrate that stinky, bacterially-awash cheese?

Luis?

USDA Kicks Lethal Legumists Off The List

Verbatim, from the USDA press release:

USDA PROPOSES TO DEBAR PEANUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that it is suspending, and proposing to debar, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and its subsidiary Tidewater Blanching LLC from doing business with the federal government. Effective immediately, PCA is excluded from participating in government contracts or subcontracts, as well as federal non procurement programs. PCA will also be excluded from doing business as agents or representatives of other contractors, including serving as a subcontractor to other individuals or companies doing business with the government.

The suspension will remain in effect for one year and the debarment is proposed for three years, beginning today.

"The actions of PCA indicate that the company lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government," said David Shipman, Acting Administrator of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

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.)