I try to stay non-political mainly because I don't like politics. I have lived my whole life in Chicago, a place of many scandals and imprisoned officials. We created a system of doing things known as machine politics, a unique style of corruption. I don't like what happens here and I don't like our current disposition in the capitol.
Anyway you cut it, food is political and increasingly so over the last many years. Corporations who manufacture food, food deserts, malnutrition, school lunch programs, charity food banks, inhuman slaughterhouse practises, factory farms, junk and fast foods, obesity rates, junk science around fad diets, culinary education, nutritional supplements, electronic exercise devices, access to health care, supplemental food programs, all boil down to economics and a dividing social structure that is eliminating the middle class. Unfortunately, food is political and often times it is unfairly distributed, wasted, horded, abused, and can often be misunderstood.
Politicians have proposed legislation to drug test supplemented food receivers, to limit 'luxury' food purchases such as steak and shrimp, and mandate sticker income verification making it harder to qualify for assistance. Hunger is always political, especially when working parents are not earning enough to adequately feed their families. Battles over raising the minimum wage are closely tied into the issue of feeding, if workers working full-time still qualify and need nutritional and housing assistance, then the minimum is no longer adequate.
Present day Chicago, we all are anticipating a teacher's strike, have seen and participated in rallies over minimum wage, police brutality, and racial profiling. It's like we are sitting on a powder keg while staring at a short fuse. I hate politics because of the inherent inequality and greed. Call me a revolutionary liberal, if you must, but no matter the label, I hate the political world around me.
Basic, the very least, everyday common human needs are required to be met, food, shelter, water, safety, and education. There should not be any debate over how we, as a society, a family, a government, make provisions for these needs. This major metropolis has a untold number of homeless people, kids that lack adequate nutrition both at home and at school, low graduation rates of our teens from high school, lack of employment opportunities for young people just entering the workforce, some of the highest taxes in the country, and several other obstacles that make living here difficult.
That's the bad news, now let's discuss the other side of the coin. There are hundreds and thousands of our residents that are doing well, achieving, striving, and assisting others along their paths. But where is the news coverage of the awarding of diplomas and scholarships. Were are the press corp when our kids and young adults achieve despite the hardships, when they leap over the hurdles, and bust out of the barriers to success? Who will show the world how talented, brilliant, and strong we are? What is the intent of the press to show so little of the great things that happen everyday? Are we being manipulated into believing all hope is lost?
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Showing posts with label food fad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food fad. Show all posts
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
I agree with Micheal Simon
On a aired episode of The Chew, 2/29/16, the topic of food destroyers and binge eating contest was brought up in the first segment. Chef Simon stated that he has never understood the phenomenon of eating more than a human can eat in a week choked down in a few minutes or the videos of people throwing or smashing food. I agree. I have never understood it either, add to that, the trend of folks making giant, over the top foods, from other foods, like taking 20 big macs and making a casserole from them. Yuck
This reminds me of the stories at the Romans before the fall of their society. We haven't yet began using vomitoriums but at this rate I would be surprised if it were to begin. This is the height of greed, excess and privilege. Only in a self centered community will you ever see such habits as their are too much famine in the world for this to make sense. Homelessness in America is the least talked about societal ill and with efforts, not to feed them and house them, but to install fixtures to detract homeless people from sleeping on bus stops and around buildings, I don't think it is at all reasonable to act in this manner. Yet, you can find many representations on social media depicting these acts.
In my opinion, the statement 'less is more' in this conversation is exactly right. We have so many people without and so many people with too much. Food waste is a big problem here. Every year we throw away an estimated 133 billion pounds of food. A lot of the waste happens in grocery retail outlets and in our own kitchens, as we may cook too much one day and not consume it before it spoils. Yet we have food stunts as I like to call them happening all the time. We have television series dedicated to this idea such as Man v. Food. Nothing succeeds like excess.
We humans think we are so clever and know so much but we are only gazing at the world through a peep hole wondering what it is we see. Hopefully the rise of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and the lot, will wake up our society to eating to live instead of eating to excess.
http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/man-v-food
http://endhunger.org/food-waste/
This reminds me of the stories at the Romans before the fall of their society. We haven't yet began using vomitoriums but at this rate I would be surprised if it were to begin. This is the height of greed, excess and privilege. Only in a self centered community will you ever see such habits as their are too much famine in the world for this to make sense. Homelessness in America is the least talked about societal ill and with efforts, not to feed them and house them, but to install fixtures to detract homeless people from sleeping on bus stops and around buildings, I don't think it is at all reasonable to act in this manner. Yet, you can find many representations on social media depicting these acts.
In my opinion, the statement 'less is more' in this conversation is exactly right. We have so many people without and so many people with too much. Food waste is a big problem here. Every year we throw away an estimated 133 billion pounds of food. A lot of the waste happens in grocery retail outlets and in our own kitchens, as we may cook too much one day and not consume it before it spoils. Yet we have food stunts as I like to call them happening all the time. We have television series dedicated to this idea such as Man v. Food. Nothing succeeds like excess.
We humans think we are so clever and know so much but we are only gazing at the world through a peep hole wondering what it is we see. Hopefully the rise of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and the lot, will wake up our society to eating to live instead of eating to excess.
http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/man-v-food
http://endhunger.org/food-waste/
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Oh Honey... Oh No Buzz
There are many ways to add sweetness into your recipes, some are great in some recipes and horrible in others, depending upon the composition of all the ingredients combined. But are they equally bad to your health? All sweeteners add calories while giving small amounts of nutrition to almost none at all. Lately, lots of attention in the healthy food movements have been changing to 'better' sources of sweetness. Sometimes these adjustments can be made without much adjustment to the recipe formula, other times it isn't good at all.
Honey has always been a bit expensive, compared to say cane sugar, but many believe that the nutrition of honey, and its associated pollen, to be wonderful. However, the golden syrup we all know and love, may not in fact be honey. As the definition of honey isn't clearly defined, manufacturers can legally sell you what amounts to yellow corn syrup and still be able to have the label read "pure honey". And don't think that a 'organic' labeling is a guarantee as there aren't any laws that define what this should, and should not, be.
For those of us who bake, knowing which sweetener to use when is vital. The artificial sweeteners often sell the idea of using them in your baking as a better alternative for the diabetic consumers. The naturalist speak on behalf of use of items such as agave nectar, whey low, natural maple syrup, molasses, stevia, lo han, brown rice syrup, coconut palm syrup, and date sugar. Each one has differing chemical components and therefore you must do your homework if you are going to use any of these as a substitute in your favorite recipe.
http://world-of-honey.com/honey-products/organic-honey/
It is a shame that it is estimated that a huge percentage of the honey on the American market has never been anywhere near a bee, ever. Deceptive practices, undefined idea of what honey actually is, and unenforceable rules about organic labeling, have all lead to this hoodwinking of the consumer. One would assume, by way of the pricing of most jars of honey, that the prices were a indication of it being the authentic item, but oh no it isn't. I am not much of a conspiracy theorist and I am sure someone has pointed this in that direction. In my opinion, this just reeks of bad business if not flat out fraud.
Honey has always been a bit expensive, compared to say cane sugar, but many believe that the nutrition of honey, and its associated pollen, to be wonderful. However, the golden syrup we all know and love, may not in fact be honey. As the definition of honey isn't clearly defined, manufacturers can legally sell you what amounts to yellow corn syrup and still be able to have the label read "pure honey". And don't think that a 'organic' labeling is a guarantee as there aren't any laws that define what this should, and should not, be.
For those of us who bake, knowing which sweetener to use when is vital. The artificial sweeteners often sell the idea of using them in your baking as a better alternative for the diabetic consumers. The naturalist speak on behalf of use of items such as agave nectar, whey low, natural maple syrup, molasses, stevia, lo han, brown rice syrup, coconut palm syrup, and date sugar. Each one has differing chemical components and therefore you must do your homework if you are going to use any of these as a substitute in your favorite recipe.
http://world-of-honey.com/honey-products/organic-honey/
It is a shame that it is estimated that a huge percentage of the honey on the American market has never been anywhere near a bee, ever. Deceptive practices, undefined idea of what honey actually is, and unenforceable rules about organic labeling, have all lead to this hoodwinking of the consumer. One would assume, by way of the pricing of most jars of honey, that the prices were a indication of it being the authentic item, but oh no it isn't. I am not much of a conspiracy theorist and I am sure someone has pointed this in that direction. In my opinion, this just reeks of bad business if not flat out fraud.
Friday, February 26, 2016
I don't IHop
Okay, I have had to go gluten-free in order to reduce my allergic reactions. This is connected to my fibromyalgia and the consumption of gluten makes my symptoms much worse. I am not happy about this for several reasons, gluten-free can be rather expensive, sometimes finding gluten-free items isn't always easy, but it is getting better, and my favorite thing to not be happy about is the taste of many offerings in this category. YUCKY.
I have been dreaming of eating toast with jam, or my favorite crackers, but the gluten-free bread that I have tried are not pleasing and 5 times the price of the regular bread. I keep thinking about bread making, cupcakes, and other such things that I enjoy in the original recipes. I have successfully converted several cookie recipes to gluten-free and I have tired a few times to make gluten-free bread and cornbread but haven't liked any of them yet.
I was recently pissed off when I had lunch at the local IHOP because this major chain has no gluten-free option on their menu. I am not understanding why not, as many of the smaller breakfast places have included my specialized foods already. This is a national chain of restaurants and I am sure introduction of this line of products can be done rather easily and without a lot of issues. I am also sure that I have not been the only one to have asked for this option in the last few years.
While I didn't mind eating steak and eggs, I was looking forward to a short stack only to be disappointed. Just this week, I ventured to a nice breakfast joint not far from the house, and there it was, a gluten-free option for pancakes and waffles. I ordered a gluten-free waffle topped with mango and quickly inhaled my meal with glee and didn't mind the extra $2 charged for the waffle.
There are so many things that I now have to be careful of eating in order to lesson my inflammation, hives, stomach aches, headaches, and muscle aches. I am not, not that I ever was, a big consumer of street foods and drive-ins, but now being forced to completely go without forever more, has me not so happy. My biggest heartache is that I can't eat burgers. A burger isn't a burger unless you have a nice bun. I don't like to pick my burger apart to avoid eating the bun. It isn't pleasurable and messy. Booooooo!
So IHOP corporate, please understand our gluten-free necessity. I shouldn't have to avoid your outlets because there is very little I can eat there and I don't want to sit across the table from someone only to watch them eat what I can't while my plate is empty, sipping on tea.
Thank you
I have been dreaming of eating toast with jam, or my favorite crackers, but the gluten-free bread that I have tried are not pleasing and 5 times the price of the regular bread. I keep thinking about bread making, cupcakes, and other such things that I enjoy in the original recipes. I have successfully converted several cookie recipes to gluten-free and I have tired a few times to make gluten-free bread and cornbread but haven't liked any of them yet.
I was recently pissed off when I had lunch at the local IHOP because this major chain has no gluten-free option on their menu. I am not understanding why not, as many of the smaller breakfast places have included my specialized foods already. This is a national chain of restaurants and I am sure introduction of this line of products can be done rather easily and without a lot of issues. I am also sure that I have not been the only one to have asked for this option in the last few years.
While I didn't mind eating steak and eggs, I was looking forward to a short stack only to be disappointed. Just this week, I ventured to a nice breakfast joint not far from the house, and there it was, a gluten-free option for pancakes and waffles. I ordered a gluten-free waffle topped with mango and quickly inhaled my meal with glee and didn't mind the extra $2 charged for the waffle.
There are so many things that I now have to be careful of eating in order to lesson my inflammation, hives, stomach aches, headaches, and muscle aches. I am not, not that I ever was, a big consumer of street foods and drive-ins, but now being forced to completely go without forever more, has me not so happy. My biggest heartache is that I can't eat burgers. A burger isn't a burger unless you have a nice bun. I don't like to pick my burger apart to avoid eating the bun. It isn't pleasurable and messy. Booooooo!
So IHOP corporate, please understand our gluten-free necessity. I shouldn't have to avoid your outlets because there is very little I can eat there and I don't want to sit across the table from someone only to watch them eat what I can't while my plate is empty, sipping on tea.
Thank you
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Michelin Star Rating System
Most people in the food business has at least heard of the Michelin star rating system, however, most probably don't know its purpose or history. From time to time, I will hear culinary students wish to make the attainment of owning a Michelin star rated restaurant one of their career goals, but often they don't fully understand what it is that they are setting their sites upon. To wit, I always ask them what it means and how they plan on achieving this goal.
I personally never set my sites on this benchmark. My career goals are smaller in scope but never too small to be significant. I have always thought of myself as a work in progress, I strive to achieve progress everyday, to be better tomorrow than today, while hoping to become a owner of a nice bakery. I love food exploration and education. I love to occasionally expand my talent and knowledge while keeping up to date on the industry and in touch with colleagues who have helped me along the way. I had to teach myself how to work with fondant as it was not a medium that was available while I was studying my craft. I took to television and online tutorials to figure out how the medium work and some tricks and tips.
Chicago is a very fabulous city to work in food as we mid-Westerners have always taken pride in our food scene. This city is among the most segregated cities in the world as most folks cluster up in neighborhoods by ethnicity, but at the same time we have such a wide list of diverse groups that you can find all sorts of food offerings to satisfy your cravings. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Brazilian, Thai, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Chinese, Polish, Irish, Italian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Russian, Ethiopian, and I am sure I have not named them all. Chicago has its issues but we here often commune with each other plate by plate.
If you think you have heard the Michelin name before but it didn't have anything to do with food, you are right. Michelin stars rating system began with the Michelin tire company. The owners of the tire company wanted a way to encourage long road trips because the more worn out tires, the more sales the tire company could earn, makes sense. So they thought about what people would need in order to drive longer and longer distances. They concluded that a traveler would need to know two very important pieces of information, where they could sleep comfortably and where they could eat. So around 1900, they began issuing star ratings for restaurants to highlight excellent locations to visit.
In American history there have been 173 stars awarded, a small number over the last 116 years, and in that list of American stars, Chicago has only been awarded 22. Earning a Michelin Star can dramatically change the way the world looks upon your restaurant and its chefs. These ratings can literally push your efforts into the stratosphere and adds your name to the list of the most accomplished in your craft.
Is having this as a goal as a student a good idea? I will never ever discourage anyone from striving to be their absolute best, however, I do tell students to get a plan in place to make this dream a reality. 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.' Do your research, find out how the chefs before you have earned their stars, figure out where you should study to give you the best odds of earning one, find a great place to intern in order to get some hands on experience with a great chef, look into who invests in restaurants and may want to help you open your own doors after a long period of study, figure out new ways to reach the gourmet audience, understand your skills well, be honest with yourself about where you are is light of where the heavy hitters are, know your audience, seek answers about what your limitations are. Every chef must, not only figure out what others can teach them, also understand what tasks they do best and what work they should leave for other chefs to do as no one chef can do everything perfectly.
Just getting in to a culinary program and graduating can be hard to do for some students. I have seen some who were cocky going into a culinary training program and washed out before completion. I have also seen chefs graduate from a study course with enormous egos and confidence in their skills but got a wake up call at their first real job in the industry as others chefs ended up deflating that ego because they didn't know what they didn't know.
In the last few years, we have witnessed a enormous boon in the number of colleges that a chef can study. The popularization of food related television has made our jobs more attractive to the common watcher. And while thousands of kids, instead of a few hundred in years before, actively seek a place to start their food careers, not all programs of study are equal. Some interns that I have had the pleasure to work with don't all finish their education with the same amount of skill, ability, knowledge, and experience as all the others. Hell, some do not possess the right personality traits to survive in a professional kitchen.
No matter if you want to swing your bat in the big leagues or if you want to be a small business owner, DO YOUR RESEARCH. These careers do not materialize over night nor are the dropped in your lap because you have a culinary education. The restaurant business is VERY competitive and the amount of time you need to put in at work to become the best chef you can be is HUGE. This industry seldom allows you to have a good work/life balance, especially in the beginning, and a chef never stops learning. Once a chef becomes proficient with producing the master sauces, they still don't have mastery of the yeast bread, for example. Customer demands change all the time and the food outlet that is the hottest ticket in town today can have a empty reservation book tomorrow because the food or diet fad has changed course.
Work hard, study hard, never stop learning, and dream big. BUT, do your research, write a plan, rewrite it often, make it plain, and plan, plan, plan. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. It is a fool that doesn't do their homework before jumping into the pool. Is it shallow or deep? Is it clean water or contaminated? Are there rocks at the bottom? Be deliberate and sure of what you are shaping before the sculpture collapses.
Here are some links that may help you investigate the Michelin star ratings: http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-michelin-guide-2014-10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michelin_starred_restaurants#United_States
I personally never set my sites on this benchmark. My career goals are smaller in scope but never too small to be significant. I have always thought of myself as a work in progress, I strive to achieve progress everyday, to be better tomorrow than today, while hoping to become a owner of a nice bakery. I love food exploration and education. I love to occasionally expand my talent and knowledge while keeping up to date on the industry and in touch with colleagues who have helped me along the way. I had to teach myself how to work with fondant as it was not a medium that was available while I was studying my craft. I took to television and online tutorials to figure out how the medium work and some tricks and tips.
Chicago is a very fabulous city to work in food as we mid-Westerners have always taken pride in our food scene. This city is among the most segregated cities in the world as most folks cluster up in neighborhoods by ethnicity, but at the same time we have such a wide list of diverse groups that you can find all sorts of food offerings to satisfy your cravings. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Brazilian, Thai, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Chinese, Polish, Irish, Italian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Russian, Ethiopian, and I am sure I have not named them all. Chicago has its issues but we here often commune with each other plate by plate.
If you think you have heard the Michelin name before but it didn't have anything to do with food, you are right. Michelin stars rating system began with the Michelin tire company. The owners of the tire company wanted a way to encourage long road trips because the more worn out tires, the more sales the tire company could earn, makes sense. So they thought about what people would need in order to drive longer and longer distances. They concluded that a traveler would need to know two very important pieces of information, where they could sleep comfortably and where they could eat. So around 1900, they began issuing star ratings for restaurants to highlight excellent locations to visit.
In American history there have been 173 stars awarded, a small number over the last 116 years, and in that list of American stars, Chicago has only been awarded 22. Earning a Michelin Star can dramatically change the way the world looks upon your restaurant and its chefs. These ratings can literally push your efforts into the stratosphere and adds your name to the list of the most accomplished in your craft.
Is having this as a goal as a student a good idea? I will never ever discourage anyone from striving to be their absolute best, however, I do tell students to get a plan in place to make this dream a reality. 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.' Do your research, find out how the chefs before you have earned their stars, figure out where you should study to give you the best odds of earning one, find a great place to intern in order to get some hands on experience with a great chef, look into who invests in restaurants and may want to help you open your own doors after a long period of study, figure out new ways to reach the gourmet audience, understand your skills well, be honest with yourself about where you are is light of where the heavy hitters are, know your audience, seek answers about what your limitations are. Every chef must, not only figure out what others can teach them, also understand what tasks they do best and what work they should leave for other chefs to do as no one chef can do everything perfectly.
Just getting in to a culinary program and graduating can be hard to do for some students. I have seen some who were cocky going into a culinary training program and washed out before completion. I have also seen chefs graduate from a study course with enormous egos and confidence in their skills but got a wake up call at their first real job in the industry as others chefs ended up deflating that ego because they didn't know what they didn't know.
In the last few years, we have witnessed a enormous boon in the number of colleges that a chef can study. The popularization of food related television has made our jobs more attractive to the common watcher. And while thousands of kids, instead of a few hundred in years before, actively seek a place to start their food careers, not all programs of study are equal. Some interns that I have had the pleasure to work with don't all finish their education with the same amount of skill, ability, knowledge, and experience as all the others. Hell, some do not possess the right personality traits to survive in a professional kitchen.
No matter if you want to swing your bat in the big leagues or if you want to be a small business owner, DO YOUR RESEARCH. These careers do not materialize over night nor are the dropped in your lap because you have a culinary education. The restaurant business is VERY competitive and the amount of time you need to put in at work to become the best chef you can be is HUGE. This industry seldom allows you to have a good work/life balance, especially in the beginning, and a chef never stops learning. Once a chef becomes proficient with producing the master sauces, they still don't have mastery of the yeast bread, for example. Customer demands change all the time and the food outlet that is the hottest ticket in town today can have a empty reservation book tomorrow because the food or diet fad has changed course.
Work hard, study hard, never stop learning, and dream big. BUT, do your research, write a plan, rewrite it often, make it plain, and plan, plan, plan. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. It is a fool that doesn't do their homework before jumping into the pool. Is it shallow or deep? Is it clean water or contaminated? Are there rocks at the bottom? Be deliberate and sure of what you are shaping before the sculpture collapses.
Here are some links that may help you investigate the Michelin star ratings: http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-michelin-guide-2014-10
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michelin_starred_restaurants#United_States
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Food Delivery Services
In our modernized age, everything from clothes to tech can all be had online, so is the way with groceries. Peapod, Instacart, Door to Door organics, Home Chef, Amazon, Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and many more all have the ability to get food to your door from your online requests.
Here in Chicago, the most commonly seen delivery truck in these parts is the big lime green trucks of Peapod. I have had them deliver to me for about 3 years now, on and off, and I have always had a good experience.
Peapod was established in 1989 in Evanston Illinois, making it the oldest company of its kind. Since then, their reach has expanded to other cities such as Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The service is available by zip code and they have a very large pool of available items including their own product label of goods. They sell, in addition to food, flowers, alcohol, cleaning products and paper goods.
Customers can place orders online or via their app. Then their order is hand picked and packaged for delivery. Delivery options can be chosen by the customer by time and date, and as early as the next morning they can have things at their door to restock their kitchen. My favorite part of ordering from Peapod is that they had pick fresh produce that is perfectly fresh and high quality. Our family is in love with their seasonal fruit packs, these boxes of assorted fruit come carefully packed, and I have never had a bad apple in the bunch. There are two sizes of these items and my kids always get excited when it comes like it a wrapped box under the Christmas tree.
The big green delivery truck is refrigerated and the frozen items are kept with the aid of ice packs. You can set your customer options to include text messaging to notify you that you are the next delivery on the route. The very friendly delivery staff unloads and brings in your order to your kitchen or wherever it is needed. If there is ever a problem with an item, invoice, or delivery, the customer service department is top notch at handling the issue quickly.
While there have been other companies to enter this type of service arena, I have not used them. There are now services that I consider more like a chef services, where customers can order a meal set-up. These come to your door as a meal. The food and the recipe information are ordered so that the customer can create a gourmet meal at home. I like this concept as it teaches the customer new culinary skills, allow them to get all the items required, even the harder to locate items, perfect for a nice dinner at home without take-out pizza or the delivery fee and limitations.
If you have a chance, you may want to check out these options in your near future.
Here in Chicago, the most commonly seen delivery truck in these parts is the big lime green trucks of Peapod. I have had them deliver to me for about 3 years now, on and off, and I have always had a good experience.
Peapod was established in 1989 in Evanston Illinois, making it the oldest company of its kind. Since then, their reach has expanded to other cities such as Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The service is available by zip code and they have a very large pool of available items including their own product label of goods. They sell, in addition to food, flowers, alcohol, cleaning products and paper goods.
Customers can place orders online or via their app. Then their order is hand picked and packaged for delivery. Delivery options can be chosen by the customer by time and date, and as early as the next morning they can have things at their door to restock their kitchen. My favorite part of ordering from Peapod is that they had pick fresh produce that is perfectly fresh and high quality. Our family is in love with their seasonal fruit packs, these boxes of assorted fruit come carefully packed, and I have never had a bad apple in the bunch. There are two sizes of these items and my kids always get excited when it comes like it a wrapped box under the Christmas tree.
The big green delivery truck is refrigerated and the frozen items are kept with the aid of ice packs. You can set your customer options to include text messaging to notify you that you are the next delivery on the route. The very friendly delivery staff unloads and brings in your order to your kitchen or wherever it is needed. If there is ever a problem with an item, invoice, or delivery, the customer service department is top notch at handling the issue quickly.
While there have been other companies to enter this type of service arena, I have not used them. There are now services that I consider more like a chef services, where customers can order a meal set-up. These come to your door as a meal. The food and the recipe information are ordered so that the customer can create a gourmet meal at home. I like this concept as it teaches the customer new culinary skills, allow them to get all the items required, even the harder to locate items, perfect for a nice dinner at home without take-out pizza or the delivery fee and limitations.
If you have a chance, you may want to check out these options in your near future.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Valentines Day Push
If you think every store, candy company, flower seller, or food outlet, is shoving the day of love down your throat, you aren't wrong. After the heavy season of celebrations between Thanksgiving and New Years Day comes the dry quite season for all in the hospitality industry. Outside of Valentines Day, February only brings Winter days wishing for the Spring thaw.
Most of us chefs, tend to take some down time, a vacation even, because no one is booking us as most have spent too much for the holidays and cut back and stay-in instead of eating out. Therefore, anything or anyway we can get customers through the doors we will promote it. Valentine's Day brings premium hotel room prices, specialty meal deals, romance packages, the highest prices for roses that you will see for the whole year, huge candy sales, and specialty desserts galore. Almost the entire month of January is quiet so you can get extremely good prices on hotels, even downtown locations in Chicago, sitting in a restaurant you will not have a long wait or trouble getting a table.
So here comes February and no matter how romantic your are or are not, this is purely a economic push to keep the doors open and stay solvent. Flower sales are only higher during the year for Mother's day than they will be this weekend and for candy sales it's Easter and Halloween.
So overdose on love and sweets so your favorite purveyors can continue to provide for your needs all the rest of the year. Flood them with cards, flowers, their favorites sweets, and a romantic dinners, the hospitality industry thanks you.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Beep, beep, sell
When you say food truck nowadays, most folks think of the wave of gourmet mobile feasts available these days near offices and at fairs. But in reality, this category has had a long history and includes the childhood favorite, the ice cream truck. The push-carts filled with Hispanic Popsicles, elotes, fried treats at the carnivals, and the Thunderbird lunch trucks at construction sites all are in the same category. The difference today is that the humble carts have upgraded and refigured themselves to include fresh made and/or made in truck to order foods of an endless array. The common fast foods are still available on carts and trucks, but the new iteration has included all types of cuisines, specialties, and gourmet items, ethnic menus are particularly popular on trucks as customers are seeking new experiences from the everyday lunch brake.
Lunch carts, carts of produce, and snacks are not a new concept. The blue-collar workforce has been utilizing the "roach coaches"over many generations now in America. These outlets are typically smaller trucks than this new edition, and they offer mostly prepackaged and precooked items in hot holding and refrigerated compartments on board. The larger and more diverse offerings revamped the idea of movable foods as the "roach coaches" popularity was in decline, and the desire for something new to eat was increasing. Chefs with established businesses and new upcoming chefs, saw an opportunity to expand their audiences. The city of Chicago was a bit later to the scene as the legislation that governed the food service industry was too constrictive to permit the new style of trucks. This wave crashed into another new concept that also was not permitted in Cook County, the concept of the shared kitchen.
The shared kitchen concept is simple enough, a kitchen approved and inspected, would allow more than one licensed company to use its facility. This ruffled more than one feature at city hall and it took a legal battle to lessen the laws about this concept and the food trucks to get my city to realize the world was changing and we needed to be apart of the new wave instead of getting drowned by it. New York and Los Angeles both had jumped ahead of Chicago with this concept and other cities like St. Louis and Memphis were sit to join the wave.
Now that the legal battle is done, and food trucks are popping up all over like the pop-up restaurant phenomenon, Chicago is firmly set in the newest craze. A large part of the legal battle for Chicago was about the place of food preparation. Chicago did not want to give licenses to truck operations that would be cooking on the truck itself. The traditional lunch truck was stocked with items prepackaged and prepped foods from a licensed outlet, therefore, the truck was only serving food that was held at proper temperature. Culinarians in this city asked the question "if the preparing person is licensed to legally prepare food for sale, and the truck has the proper equipment, then why can't food be prepared on board?" Licenses were given to the cruise ships at Navy Pier to prepare food on-board so why can't a truck be licensed? Chicago was practically the last metropolis to approve of food truck operation, in fact we had the distinction of being the only city in the U.S. that did not allow food trucks to cook on board.
Food trucks are now having their own fests in small towns, suburban areas, special events, and even weddings, movie shoots, corporate picnics, and expos. The diversity of offerings and the locations that they can service is wide open now leading to a greater opportunity for increasing or building a dedicated audience for a chef. There is one bit yet that limits where a food truck can operate, they must park their trucks no closer than 200 feet away from any restaurant, which almost completely eliminates their ability to park in downtown Chicago.
The same safety and sanitation legislation that applies to brick and mortar food establishments apply to trucks, and most truck outlets either are an extension of a traditional restaurant or have a dedicated kitchen to produce or prep their food offerings. Permits, additional licenses, health inspections, sanitation inspections, may all be required depending upon location of operation. All of this insures that the consumer is protected from negative impacts to their health from purchasing the food offerings.
No matter if the truck is an extension of your favorite restaurant, or something very new to you, they can offer a new dinning experience that may change your idea of what you are craving. Gourmet donuts, Philippine tacos, Spanish tapas, to Indian curries can be had by way of a short walk to your vendor's truck.
Lunch carts, carts of produce, and snacks are not a new concept. The blue-collar workforce has been utilizing the "roach coaches"over many generations now in America. These outlets are typically smaller trucks than this new edition, and they offer mostly prepackaged and precooked items in hot holding and refrigerated compartments on board. The larger and more diverse offerings revamped the idea of movable foods as the "roach coaches" popularity was in decline, and the desire for something new to eat was increasing. Chefs with established businesses and new upcoming chefs, saw an opportunity to expand their audiences. The city of Chicago was a bit later to the scene as the legislation that governed the food service industry was too constrictive to permit the new style of trucks. This wave crashed into another new concept that also was not permitted in Cook County, the concept of the shared kitchen.
The shared kitchen concept is simple enough, a kitchen approved and inspected, would allow more than one licensed company to use its facility. This ruffled more than one feature at city hall and it took a legal battle to lessen the laws about this concept and the food trucks to get my city to realize the world was changing and we needed to be apart of the new wave instead of getting drowned by it. New York and Los Angeles both had jumped ahead of Chicago with this concept and other cities like St. Louis and Memphis were sit to join the wave.
Now that the legal battle is done, and food trucks are popping up all over like the pop-up restaurant phenomenon, Chicago is firmly set in the newest craze. A large part of the legal battle for Chicago was about the place of food preparation. Chicago did not want to give licenses to truck operations that would be cooking on the truck itself. The traditional lunch truck was stocked with items prepackaged and prepped foods from a licensed outlet, therefore, the truck was only serving food that was held at proper temperature. Culinarians in this city asked the question "if the preparing person is licensed to legally prepare food for sale, and the truck has the proper equipment, then why can't food be prepared on board?" Licenses were given to the cruise ships at Navy Pier to prepare food on-board so why can't a truck be licensed? Chicago was practically the last metropolis to approve of food truck operation, in fact we had the distinction of being the only city in the U.S. that did not allow food trucks to cook on board.
Food trucks are now having their own fests in small towns, suburban areas, special events, and even weddings, movie shoots, corporate picnics, and expos. The diversity of offerings and the locations that they can service is wide open now leading to a greater opportunity for increasing or building a dedicated audience for a chef. There is one bit yet that limits where a food truck can operate, they must park their trucks no closer than 200 feet away from any restaurant, which almost completely eliminates their ability to park in downtown Chicago.
The same safety and sanitation legislation that applies to brick and mortar food establishments apply to trucks, and most truck outlets either are an extension of a traditional restaurant or have a dedicated kitchen to produce or prep their food offerings. Permits, additional licenses, health inspections, sanitation inspections, may all be required depending upon location of operation. All of this insures that the consumer is protected from negative impacts to their health from purchasing the food offerings.
No matter if the truck is an extension of your favorite restaurant, or something very new to you, they can offer a new dinning experience that may change your idea of what you are craving. Gourmet donuts, Philippine tacos, Spanish tapas, to Indian curries can be had by way of a short walk to your vendor's truck.
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