-| Picky Eater / Food Issues |-
[what's the difference?]Sometimes I wish my job was either a Health Inspector, Food Critic, or Restaurant Owner. The only problem with this is, I'd either close everybody down, put them out of business, or always be without a staff. This is because I have serious food issues.
You can ask any one of my friends, and they will tell you that it's not that I am picky; I will eat anything as long as it looks "right". By this, I mean the way it is supposed to look. I am sure everyone at some point or another has been to a restaurant and ordered the GRAND SALAD BAR, or some variation of it. But what do you do when you order this and you get to the salad bar and it looks like the stuff has been there for a week?
I had this problem when I recently visited a restaurant. They had Iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, chopped boiled eggs, sprouts, grated cheese, bacon bits, olives, and a sundry of other items to chose from. The lettuce was dark and wilted and brown on some of the edges. I felt that for my $5.99 all-I-can-eat, they should make more effort to make me WANT to eat it. After all, who goes back to a restaurant who has poor quality food? Not me.
I had already committed myself to the salad bar, so I resolve myself to make the best of the situation. I am looking at wilted lettuce, smushy overripe tomatoes, waxy looking olives, and oily cheese which has not been kept cool enough. Now, I know that cheese that has been left at room temperature is safe to eat, but it doesn't look pretty. I decide to stay away from anything dairy at this salad bar, like the cottage cheese and Ranch dressing. I decide I will use Russian or French - maybe Italian. Something that won't have a risk of me bent over the toilet wishing I could die later.
While I was trying to use the little tongs to pick through the lettuce to find pieces suitable for consumption, an employee came by to 'restock' the needed areas. I decided to approach the subject of the quality of the selections.
"Would it be a problem to see if there was fresher lettuce available?" I asked. The employee stared at me blankly, then looked at the lettuce, then back at me.
"That," she said, pointing at the lettuce, "Is Romaine lettuce. It is SUPPOSED to look like that."
Now, I know enough about food to know the difference between Romaine lettuce and Iceberg lettuce. "That isn't Romaine. It is Iceberg and it is not supposed to look like that," I said.
With a heavy sigh, she leaves, and returns a few minutes later with more lettuce, which was better but still not incredibly fresh looking. I did manage to get a plate full enough to resemble a salad; but I did not go back for seconds.
I am the same way when I go grocery shopping. If its not in a box, it gets a complete inspection before it is selected to go in my cart. I have been known to spend a good ten minutes selecting tomatoes... but that subject is for another day-come back and I'm sure I'll have something to say on that soon.
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20 Feb 2002- perotheus.com
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