"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
28.19...
> Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 04:05:08a, Mordechai Housman meant to
> say...
>
>> "Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
>> 28.19...
>>> Oh pshaw, on Sun 03 Sep 2006 08:37:20p, Dave Bugg meant to say...
>>>
>>>> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>>>>> adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this
>>>>> common?
>>>>
>>>> Yeah. For example, there was a guy who hadn't heard of creme
>>>> fraiche;
>>>> can you believe it? :-)
>>>
>>> Some folks have barely heard of yogurt, let alone creme fraiche. :-)
>>> There
>>> are a lot of "backward" communities out there.
>>
>> Now hold on, yogurt? They don't have televisions? They don't see
>> commercials?
>>
>
> Doesn't mean they know what the commercials are talking about.
>
::blink:: Um, okay. I guess they don't pay attention to commercials, and
probably spend that time surfing, or whatever it's called when they
check out other channels.

I don't even have a television, as it happens. Of course, I DO know what
yogurt is, so maybe there's an inverse relationship there.

"Kris" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I guess it can happen anywhere. One of my closest friends here calls
> herself a "foodie-type" ( I think she means someone who loves buying
> good wine & cheese, etc. and loves gourmet cooking but is a limited
> cook herself).
>
> But she's sometimes mystified by some of the things I cook. She was
> even recently confused and hesitant on how to cook brown rice!

As well she should be! Many people do rice, particularly whole-grain
rice, wrong.

> I guess it just must be how far someone wants to bother learning about
> it versus just enjoying it from someone else's kitchen.

Makes sense.

"Mr Libido Incognito" > wrote in message
...

> Most people at the edge of lower middle class would propbably not be
> aware of it. Not that is expensive or hard to grow...just one more
> thing
> that is expenable. There seems every year to be more and more people
> slipping in pay scale. And things like rosemary might be a luxury they
> fore go. Leaving their children unaware of it.
>
> That would apply to many other seasonings as well. They can't afford a
> failed experiment so they don't try new stuff often.

Sadly, this is probably true.

"kilikini" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mordechai Housman" > wrote in message
> news:vnVKg.3432$hV2.2652@trndny05...

>> Okay, well salt pork I would ALSO have trouble identifying, since I
>> eat
>> only kosher and I am not even aware of having ever seen salt pork,
>> whatever that is. I did nonce see large pigs' feet in a bottle at a
>> store I went to several times.
>
> I've only purchased salt pork once, to make clam chowder. Since then,
> I use
> bacon and I much prefer the flavor of that. Salt pork is really tough
> and,
> well, um, salty. :~) I know you can't eat it, but you can find it in
> the
> meat case OR bacon section (I've seen it in both) of your local
> supermarket - usually.

Well, not in MY local supermarkets, because I shop in the kosher ones in
my neighborhood. There is a Pathmark at the edge of my village that
would probably have stuff like that, I suppose. I'm not interested
enough to go and check out the foods I cannot eat.

"Goomba38" > wrote in message
...
> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>> "Goomba38" > wrote in message
>
>>> Ugh. That reconfirms to me that I'm not wrong in never eating hot
>>> dogs.
>>> Salami..well.. I have to eat that! I'm Italian!! I just won't think
>>> of anything bad....
>>
>> Well, should you ever want to be cured of eating salami, just stop on
>> by my place and I'll go through my later father's performance on the
>> process. Its quite a visually disgusting show, and it had my family
>> both gagging and giggling, which is no mean feat, I can tell you.
>>
>> Truth to tell, it has never really cured my appetite for salami
>> either.
>
> <fingers in ears, humming loudly> NOT listening!! .... LOL.

LOL

Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 04:25:12p, Mordechai Housman meant to say...

> "kilikini" > wrote in message
> . ..
>>
>> "George" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>>
>>> > But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>>> > adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>>> >
>>> > Mordechai
>>>
>>> Yes, there are a good percentage of people who grew up on "easy
>>> meals" and take out food who have no idea what unassembled foods look
>>> like. These are also the people who rave about the heavily salt and
>>> sugar laden industrial "food" at places like applebees and pizza hut.
>>>
>>> We were cycling last month and there was a large blackberry patch
>>> loaded with berries so we stopped to enjoy them. A few people
>>> actually commented "whats wrong with you...you can't eat stuff out in
>>> the woods..."
>>
>> Um, okay. How have people been doing that for centuries then? I
>> would have
>> happily stopped with you and gobbled a bunch until my mouth was a
>> complete purple smile. :~)
>
> People today often tend to reject anything that smacks of
> "pre-modernism." They are as uncomfortable with such things as our
> great-grandmothers were uncomfortable with modern conveniences, such as
> plastic bags. How many people today use a non-electric grater? So what
> if it comes out tasting better? That only matters to people who have
> actually tasted the hand-grated type. But for today's "modern" people,
> who have never bothered to taste the difference, the idea of using hand
> tools would mystify them, at best.

I'll use any tool that yields the "perfect" result. For example, my
grandmother and mother baked fresh coconut cakes that simply couldn't be
duplicated without coconut that has been hand grated on a box grater. My
mother and I tried other methods with consistent failure.

--
Wayne Boatwright
__________________________________________________

Useless Invention: Second-hand fireworks.

Someone was describing rosemary leaves, but I can't find the post.

S/he said they looked like pine leaves.

I wanted to add that the leaves themselves look very much like pine
leaves (though perhaps a bit more curled), but the way they branch off
from the middle stem reminds me a bit of mimosa.

Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 04:35:05p, Mordechai Housman meant to say...

> "Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
> 28.19...
>> Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 04:05:08a, Mordechai Housman meant to
>> say...
>>
>>> "Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> 28.19...
>>>> Oh pshaw, on Sun 03 Sep 2006 08:37:20p, Dave Bugg meant to say...
>>>>
>>>>> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>>>>>> adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this
>>>>>> common?
>>>>>
>>>>> Yeah. For example, there was a guy who hadn't heard of creme
>>>>> fraiche; can you believe it? :-)
>>>>
>>>> Some folks have barely heard of yogurt, let alone creme fraiche. :-)
>>>> There
>>>> are a lot of "backward" communities out there.
>>>
>>> Now hold on, yogurt? They don't have televisions? They don't see
>>> commercials?
>>>
>>
>> Doesn't mean they know what the commercials are talking about.
>>
>::blink:: Um, okay. I guess they don't pay attention to commercials, and
> probably spend that time surfing, or whatever it's called when they
> check out other channels.
>
> I don't even have a television, as it happens. Of course, I DO know what
> yogurt is, so maybe there's an inverse relationship there.
>

I think the difference is that foodies tend to explore and investigate,
whether it's in a store, a magazine, on TV, or online. Non-foodies don't.

--
Wayne Boatwright
__________________________________________________

I hate prejudiced people.

"jmcquown" > wrote:
> Salt pork has a lot more flavour than bacon for bean soups. And yes, you
> can *eat it* (laughing). It's a lot like pancetta, actually. Very fatty,
> to be sure, and needs to be cubed and browned well before adding to a pot
> of
> beans for soup. No need to add salt, that's for sure!

Yes, one most certainly can eat it. But not with the rind on it! ;-)

It's not always very fatty. It tends to vary like bacon does. I've seen some
that has very few streaks of lean in it, and some that is much more lean
than fat. I normally buy the leanest piece I can find.

I learned a thing or two using it in clam chowder. First I cook the salt
pork very slowly and render off the fat. I use that fat for frying the hard
part (abductor muscles) of the chowder clams. I reserve the cracklings. The
cracklings go into the chowder at the very end. The crunch they have adds a
nice texture to the chowder. If they are put in too early, the cracklings
get soft and lose their texture.

I agree, it's a great flavor for beans. In the cooler months I make that old
classic Boston baked beans, where one bakes the beans slowly in a bean pot
for something like 6-8 hours. It just wouldn't taste the same without salt
pork. In baked beans, fatty salt pork is goodness... the fat does something
to make the texture luscious (for lack of a better term).

--
( #wff_ng_7# at #verizon# period #net# )

"Puester" > wrote in message
...
> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>
>> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>> adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>>
>> Mordechai
>
>
>
> When I was a newlywed in my early 20's, I was picking through a
> display of fresh spinach in a large market. Two older ladies
> (60-somethings) approached and asked "What is that and how do you cook
> it?" I studied them for a few seconds to see if they were kidding
> with me, and finally told them. Neither one had ever cooked fresh
> spinach, in the late 1960's! Both said they always bought it frozen.
>
> DH's cousin taught in a poor school district in northern VT and was
> amazed when her students didn't know that pickles were made from
> cucumbers and butter made from cream. She demonstrated both as well
> as other food processes in her classroom.
>
> Some people aren't at all curious or adventurous in their food
> sampling or knowledge. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Maybe it's a culture thing. The Jewish culture is into food, although it
doesn't rate the highest on the list. Today's American culture has
several sectors, but there seems to be one that is pure consumerism,
without producing anything of its own. People in that sector of the
culture would probably not be very creative.

"Puester" > wrote in message
...
> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
>> news
>>>
>>> "Mordechai Housman" > wrote
>>>
>>>> Now hold on, yogurt? They don't have televisions? They don't see
>>>> commercials?
>>>
>>> I'm thinking maybe the Galloping Gourmet is why I knew what
>>> a head of garlic looked like, fresh garlic (perhaps any garlic at
>>> all)
>>> never crossed my threshhold, growing up.
>>
>> I'd forgotten about that show! I don't think I've watched it much.
>>
>> Why was there no garlic in your home?
>
>
> You'd be surprised at the number of people in my parents' generation
> who didn't use onion or garlic because they were "ethnic" ingredients
> only used by those folks on the other side of the tracks.
>
> My late mother-in-law comes to mind, a Yankee who didn't want to be
> mistaken in any way for those "Eye-talians". Black pepper was the
> strongest thing in her spice rack till I came along. She did evolve a
> bit, however, since her second husband loved onions and garlic.

I hadn't thought of it that way. I can almost see some people thinking
of garlic that way, in a time bygone, but onion also? I wouldn't have
suspected that. I thought that was more widespread. After all, there
were onions in Russia centuries ago, I think. Garlic, I don't know.

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" > wrote in message
news
> In article <mtVKg.1554$RW2.526@trndny04>,
> "Mordechai Housman" > wrote:

>> I don't know, it's just that garlic seems almost like an onion. Could
>> you imagine someone in America saying that they'd never seen an onion
>> before?
>
> You never know... :-)

I can imagine someone not knowing that there are different kinds of
onions. But never having seen even one kind? Did they never eat salad?
At the very least they should have seen SLICES of onion. Salad bars that
I have seen in Manhattan have red onion, if I remember correctly. (I
have never actually bought anything in one, since I eat only kosher, and
I don't look at the food there much, but I have seen some things when I
go there to buy drinks, or what have you.)

"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
28.19...
> Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 04:25:12p, Mordechai Housman meant to
> say...
>
>> "kilikini" > wrote in message
>> . ..
>>>
>>> "George" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>>>> > adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this
>>>> > common?
>>>> >
>>>> > Mordechai
>>>>
>>>> Yes, there are a good percentage of people who grew up on "easy
>>>> meals" and take out food who have no idea what unassembled foods
>>>> look
>>>> like. These are also the people who rave about the heavily salt and
>>>> sugar laden industrial "food" at places like applebees and pizza
>>>> hut.
>>>>
>>>> We were cycling last month and there was a large blackberry patch
>>>> loaded with berries so we stopped to enjoy them. A few people
>>>> actually commented "whats wrong with you...you can't eat stuff out
>>>> in
>>>> the woods..."
>>>
>>> Um, okay. How have people been doing that for centuries then? I
>>> would have
>>> happily stopped with you and gobbled a bunch until my mouth was a
>>> complete purple smile. :~)
>>
>> People today often tend to reject anything that smacks of
>> "pre-modernism." They are as uncomfortable with such things as our
>> great-grandmothers were uncomfortable with modern conveniences, such
>> as
>> plastic bags. How many people today use a non-electric grater? So
>> what
>> if it comes out tasting better? That only matters to people who have
>> actually tasted the hand-grated type. But for today's "modern"
>> people,
>> who have never bothered to taste the difference, the idea of using
>> hand
>> tools would mystify them, at best.
>
> I'll use any tool that yields the "perfect" result. For example, my
> grandmother and mother baked fresh coconut cakes that simply couldn't
> be
> duplicated without coconut that has been hand grated on a box grater.
> My
> mother and I tried other methods with consistent failure.

Some recipes need hand-grated potatoes and hand-grated onions. Nothing
else comes out as good. It's as simple as that. I don't know why that
is, but it is. Maybe it's the drop or so of blood that inevitably gets
into the food as a result of the hand grater; I don't know.

"Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
28.19...
> Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 04:35:05p, Mordechai Housman meant to
> say...
>
>> I don't even have a television, as it happens. Of course, I DO know
>> what
>> yogurt is, so maybe there's an inverse relationship there.
>>
>
> I think the difference is that foodies tend to explore and
> investigate,
> whether it's in a store, a magazine, on TV, or online. Non-foodies
> don't.

Yeah, that'll be so, but I still like my theory of the inverse
relationship between TV and creativity.

Mordechai Housman wrote:
> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered adults
> who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>
More common that I care to think about. I dated a man who was close to
50 and never tasted yogurt. My Mom introduced avocados to her
40-something friends back in the 80's. I've known people who have
never seen garlic, also, because they grew up in British homes where
garlic was seen as offensive and gave body odor. The young checkers at
the market often have asked me what an artichoke is and have charged me
for red cabbage when I have bought raddiccio (I like those
checkers...heh....). But the older checkers are sometimes
worse....arguing with me that I have leeks on their belt when they
happend to be larger scallions with large white and green portions.
Oy ve....

"Jocelyn De Contents" > wrote

> The young checkers at
> the market often have asked me what an artichoke is

I looked on ebay for vegetable shaped s&p shakers, someone
from Australia thinks this might be a vegetable:

http://tinyurl.com/lxasw

Oh pshaw, on Mon 04 Sep 2006 06:25:37p, Mordechai Housman meant to say...

> "Puester" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
>>> news >>>>
>>>> "Mordechai Housman" > wrote
>>>>
>>>>> Now hold on, yogurt? They don't have televisions? They don't see
>>>>> commercials?
>>>>
>>>> I'm thinking maybe the Galloping Gourmet is why I knew what
>>>> a head of garlic looked like, fresh garlic (perhaps any garlic at
>>>> all) never crossed my threshhold, growing up.
>>>
>>> I'd forgotten about that show! I don't think I've watched it much.
>>>
>>> Why was there no garlic in your home?
>>
>>
>> You'd be surprised at the number of people in my parents' generation
>> who didn't use onion or garlic because they were "ethnic" ingredients
>> only used by those folks on the other side of the tracks.
>>
>> My late mother-in-law comes to mind, a Yankee who didn't want to be
>> mistaken in any way for those "Eye-talians". Black pepper was the
>> strongest thing in her spice rack till I came along. She did evolve a
>> bit, however, since her second husband loved onions and garlic.
>
> I hadn't thought of it that way. I can almost see some people thinking
> of garlic that way, in a time bygone, but onion also? I wouldn't have
> suspected that. I thought that was more widespread. After all, there
> were onions in Russia centuries ago, I think. Garlic, I don't know.

My mother, born in 1913, always used fresh onion and garlic, and had a
fairly broad selection of spices and herbs but rarely used fresh grown
herbs other than parsley.

--
Wayne Boatwright
__________________________________________________

Black clothes: Ideal tool for removing cat hair
from furniture.

Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>
> You've certainly intrigued me! Can you discuss this in some sort of
> semi-oblique way without disgusting yourself (or anyone else)?
>
> My late father, who was a butcher of the old school (no self-service at
> HIS store!), used to tell me in graphic detail how salami was made, in a
> facetious effort to cool off my desires for it.
>
> And a friend of mine who has a farm and a meat processing plant once
> told me that if I knew how hot dogs were made, even the finest kosher
> hot dogs, I would be so disgusted that I would never eat one again

I only eat Kosher hot dogs. Wish they came with Pork, though. Reminds
me of this joke: At a wedding, the Priest kept nagging the Rebbi about
eating some of the lovely pork dishes. The Priest said "Hey, when are
you going to break down and have some pork?" The Rebbi said "At your
wedding!"

In article <Nk4Lg.752$bz1.156@trndny09>,
"Mordechai Housman" > wrote:

> Maybe it's a culture thing. The Jewish culture is into food, although it
> doesn't rate the highest on the list. Today's American culture has
> several sectors, but there seems to be one that is pure consumerism,
> without producing anything of its own. People in that sector of the
> culture would probably not be very creative.

I find people who can't taste the difference to be the odd ones. I
can sort of understand thinking that you don't have time or if you don't
have an interest or whatever, and make the prepackaged junk, but when
people say things like box mix whatever tastes the same as homemade to
them, I am mystified. It is even worse when they _prefer_ the prefab to
the homemade.

We, OTOH, are growing more of our own food, we raise chickens, we
will have honeybees next year, we shop at farmers' markets as much as we
can, make most food from scratch, etc. We would love to get a few sheep
and some cows, and our sons would like to raise a pig. We were even
reading about what it would take to grow a portion of our own grains for
flour.

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

In article <sB2Lg.14613$%_1.12052@trndny07>,
"Mordechai Housman" > wrote:

> People today often tend to reject anything that smacks of
> "pre-modernism." They are as uncomfortable with such things as our
> great-grandmothers were uncomfortable with modern conveniences, such as
> plastic bags. How many people today use a non-electric grater? So what
> if it comes out tasting better? That only matters to people who have
> actually tasted the hand-grated type. But for today's "modern" people,
> who have never bothered to taste the difference, the idea of using hand
> tools would mystify them, at best.

Have you read Better Off? It is fascinating, about a couple who went
to live with a community that was similar to Old Order Amish for a time
to see what it would be like to live low-tech and the way they applied
those concepts to their every day lives afterward. Then, there's Burt
Rutan (sp?) who was a proponent of the least technology to get the job
done. I have all sorts of gadgets, but unless the job warrants using
them, I use the hand tool every time. We are thinking of getting a
scyth for the grass, even.

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

"Ludmillia" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>>
>> You've certainly intrigued me! Can you discuss this in some sort of
>> semi-oblique way without disgusting yourself (or anyone else)?
>>
>> My late father, who was a butcher of the old school (no self-service
>> at
>> HIS store!), used to tell me in graphic detail how salami was made,
>> in a
>> facetious effort to cool off my desires for it.
>>
>> And a friend of mine who has a farm and a meat processing plant once
>> told me that if I knew how hot dogs were made, even the finest kosher
>> hot dogs, I would be so disgusted that I would never eat one again
>
> I only eat Kosher hot dogs. Wish they came with Pork, though.
> Reminds
> me of this joke: At a wedding, the Priest kept nagging the Rebbi
> about
> eating some of the lovely pork dishes. The Priest said "Hey, when are
> you going to break down and have some pork?" The Rebbi said "At your
> wedding!"

Cute! Nice variation on the theme.

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:

>>We were cycling last month and there was a large blackberry patch loaded
>>with berries so we stopped to enjoy them. A few people actually
>>commented "whats wrong with you...you can't eat stuff out in the woods..."
>
>
> Oh gods... that is SO sad!
>
> Some of my fondest memories are picking wild blackberries with my
> mother, and enjoying the resulting jam she made from it. :-)
>
> We still have a few jars unopened of her Dewberry jam.

My friend is into using wild foods (elderberries, mushrooms etc) she
finds in the wooded areas as a hobby and for her own use. She is quite
knowledgable and I totally trust her judgement regarding safety.

I was just talking to her the other day and she mentioned that many
people refuse anything she gives them (elderberry jam, dishes with
really tasty mushrooms etc) because it isn't something commonly found at
the superwally or served to them covered in an industrial sugar/salt
sauce at applebees.

kilikini wrote:

(re garlic)

> Count me in on that one. We buy at least three heads of it a week.

Yep, three heads of garlic would just about last us three days ...

--
Craig

Mordechai Housman wrote:

> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered adults
> who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?

Jamie Oliver's British schools adventure revealed huge numbers of
children who could not identify a single vegetable; and whose
staple diet was chips.

Scary.

--
Craig

"Craig Welch" > wrote in message
...
> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>
>> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>> adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>
> Jamie Oliver's British schools adventure revealed huge numbers of
> children who could not identify a single vegetable; and whose staple
> diet was chips.
>
> Scary.

This is a work of fiction? (You called it an "adventure.") If it is not
fiction, when was this study done?

Mordechai Housman wrote:
> "Craig Welch" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>>
>>> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>>> adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>>
>>
>> Jamie Oliver's British schools adventure revealed huge numbers of
>> children who could not identify a single vegetable; and whose staple
>> diet was chips.
>>
>> Scary.
>
>
> This is a work of fiction? (You called it an "adventure.") If it is not
> fiction, when was this study done?

Hmm. Few food related issues have had more press in the UK than this.

http://tinyurl.com/jgfqf

--
Craig

I think herbs sells in trends. I do not think i can get resh rosmary
here either but I grow my own so I have not looked. I have seen
cilrantro just about everyplace.

That kids parents msut of used only powdered garlic or cooked form the
can.



Mordechai Housman wrote:
> Some years ago I attended a convention, and I happened to have a head of
> garlic with me.
>
> At some point, I met a guy from iirc Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He saw
> me holding the garlic, and he asked me, "Is that garlic?"
>
> I said it was. He asked me if he could see it and hold it. He said he
> had never in his life (he was in his twenties) seen garlic before.
>
> I was astonished. I grew up in a very urban area: Brooklyn, NY. Most of
> the people I know there are not into very creative cooking. They don't
> use anything near the many herbs and so forth used by the people on this
> ng. But who has not seen a head of garlic in his life? I have to weep in
> sympathy.
>
> There were a few places in Brooklyn, though, where you could exotic
> herbs, roots, and so forth. The big local Shopright had a nice, very
> large selection, though I didn't see too many people overwhelming the
> store and rushing to those aisles.
>
> Where I live now, in Rockland County, there is (AFAIK) only one
> supermarket near me that carries fresh herbs and such: such as rosemary,
> chives, basil, and so forth, though not as wide a selection as I'm sure
> many people here would demand in their local stores. It's actually one
> of the smaller supermarkets, but they have a decent selection of
> vegetables. So I have changed my shopping habits to shop in this store
> as much as I can.
>
> In one other VERY big supermarket I asked the guy if he had fresh
> rosemary, and he said he didn't know what it was, and no one ever asks
> for it. I was a bit stunned, to tell you the truth. Rosemary is not such
> an exotic spice. I hadn't asked for the root of some Mexican vegetable,
> such as a friend of mine used to use a lot. So I went to the dried spice
> rack to show him what it was, and I couldn't find it there either!! Even
> in Brooklyn it hadn't been this difficult!
>
> Oddly, this very big supermarket has a much wider (and often better)
> selection of fruits than the other one. So I wind up having to go to the
> big place for fruits and a few other things, and to almost the other
> side of town for vegetables and herbs and so forth.
>
> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered adults
> who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>
> Mordechai

Craig Welch wrote:
> kilikini wrote:
>
> (re garlic)
>
>> Count me in on that one. We buy at least three heads of it a week.
>
> Yep, three heads of garlic would just about last us three days ...
>
That long???

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy - who loves garlic with just about anything...

"Chatty Cathy" > wrote in message
...
> Craig Welch wrote:
> > kilikini wrote:
> >
> > (re garlic)
> >
> >> Count me in on that one. We buy at least three heads of it a week.
> >
> > Yep, three heads of garlic would just about last us three days ...
> >
> That long???
>

We've always got that jarred, chopped garlic on hand as well. The hubby
eats it as is, from the jar, in his veggies or in stir fry.

kili

Mordechai Housman wrote:


> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered adults
> who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?

I think its fairly common amongst "non-cooks". There are a lot of people
out there who live on take-outs or eat in restaurants and never cook at
home... They may like the taste of garlic for example - but never having
cooked with it themselves, they would have no idea what it looked like
fresh - or even known that they were eating it. Sad, but true. Can't
remember who said (think it was LadyJane) that at least her kids know
that eggs come from a chicken and not out of a carton from the
supermarket.... same sort of thing, IMHO.

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Chatty Cathy wrote:

> Sad, but true. Can't remember who said (think it was LadyJane) that
> at least her kids know that eggs come from a chicken and not out of a
> carton from the supermarket.... same sort of thing, IMHO.

LOL, sorta reminds me of a story on a newspaper where a family from the city
was visiting a farm, IIRC they were from Milan, and a kid told his mom:
"Check that out, Mom: they got uncooked animals!"
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Mordechai Housman wrote:

> My late father, who was a butcher of the old school (no self-service at
> HIS store!), used to tell me in graphic detail how salami was made, in a
> facetious effort to cool off my desires for it.
>
> And a friend of mine who has a farm and a meat processing plant once
> told me that if I knew how hot dogs were made, even the finest kosher
> hot dogs, I would be so disgusted that I would never eat one again.

Ugh. That reconfirms to me that I'm not wrong in never eating hot dogs.
Salami..well.. I have to eat that! I'm Italian!! I just won't think of
anything bad....

Mordechai Housman wrote:
> "Goomba38" > wrote in message

>> Ugh. That reconfirms to me that I'm not wrong in never eating hot dogs.
>> Salami..well.. I have to eat that! I'm Italian!! I just won't think of
>> anything bad....
>
> Well, should you ever want to be cured of eating salami, just stop on by
> my place and I'll go through my later father's performance on the
> process. Its quite a visually disgusting show, and it had my family both
> gagging and giggling, which is no mean feat, I can tell you.
>
> Truth to tell, it has never really cured my appetite for salami either.

<fingers in ears, humming loudly> NOT listening!! .... LOL.

"Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
...
> In article <sB2Lg.14613$%_1.12052@trndny07>,
> "Mordechai Housman" > wrote:
>
>> People today often tend to reject anything that smacks of
>> "pre-modernism." They are as uncomfortable with such things as our
>> great-grandmothers were uncomfortable with modern conveniences, such
>> as
>> plastic bags. How many people today use a non-electric grater? So
>> what
>> if it comes out tasting better? That only matters to people who have
>> actually tasted the hand-grated type. But for today's "modern"
>> people,
>> who have never bothered to taste the difference, the idea of using
>> hand
>> tools would mystify them, at best.
>
> Have you read Better Off? It is fascinating, about a couple who
> went
> to live with a community that was similar to Old Order Amish for a
> time
> to see what it would be like to live low-tech and the way they applied
> those concepts to their every day lives afterward. Then, there's Burt
> Rutan (sp?) who was a proponent of the least technology to get the job
> done. I have all sorts of gadgets, but unless the job warrants using
> them, I use the hand tool every time. We are thinking of getting a
> scyth for the grass, even.

Sounds like an interesting book. I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to go
low-tech. I like my computer, my car, my electric lights, and many of
the other modern conveniences, but I can see some things that are indeed
better when done by hand.

Just how can a scythe be better than a gas-powered mower?

"George" > wrote in message
...
> OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
>
>>>We were cycling last month and there was a large blackberry patch
>>>loaded with berries so we stopped to enjoy them. A few people
>>>actually commented "whats wrong with you...you can't eat stuff out in
>>>the woods..."
>>
>>
>> Oh gods... that is SO sad!
>>
>> Some of my fondest memories are picking wild blackberries with my
>> mother, and enjoying the resulting jam she made from it. :-)
>>
>> We still have a few jars unopened of her Dewberry jam.
>
> My friend is into using wild foods (elderberries, mushrooms etc) she
> finds in the wooded areas as a hobby and for her own use. She is quite
> knowledgable and I totally trust her judgement regarding safety.
>
> I was just talking to her the other day and she mentioned that many
> people refuse anything she gives them (elderberry jam, dishes with
> really tasty mushrooms etc) because it isn't something commonly found
> at the superwally or served to them covered in an industrial
> sugar/salt sauce at applebees.

The fear of exploring the unknown is perhaps the most deadening and
self-destructive of all characteristic traits. I think it is possibly a
disorder, but it is so prevalent these days that few people one would
classify it as such.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I think herbs sells in trends. I do not think i can get resh rosmary
> here either but I grow my own so I have not looked. I have seen
> cilrantro just about everyplace.
>
> That kids parents msut of used only powdered garlic or cooked form the
> can.

Probably.

Incidentally, he wasn't a kid. He was an adult, in his twenties, at
least! That's why I was appalled. A teenager that hasn't seen garlic,
well, that's sad, and a bit surprising. But an adult? That's almost
criminal!

"Chatty Cathy" > wrote in message
...
> Mordechai Housman wrote:
>
>
>> But my point here is to wonder: have any of you ever discovered
>> adults who were really unaware of some basic foods? Is this common?
>
> I think its fairly common amongst "non-cooks". There are a lot of
> people out there who live on take-outs or eat in restaurants and never
> cook at home... They may like the taste of garlic for example - but
> never having cooked with it themselves, they would have no idea what
> it looked like fresh - or even known that they were eating it. Sad,
> but true. Can't remember who said (think it was LadyJane) that at
> least her kids know that eggs come from a chicken and not out of a
> carton from the supermarket.... same sort of thing, IMHO.

Hmm, good point. My kids know that, but probably as something abstract.
They have never seen chickens lay eggs, or found eggs in a nest after a
chicken sat there.

Still, they are close to animals. We own a rabbit, two parakeets, and
numerous little fishies. We go to petting zoos, museums, nature hikes
and parks, and even once to the Great Adventures safari, whenever we
can. My middle son (aged 8) will bring in anything alive that he finds
outside, regardless of the number of legs it has, if any.

So I suspect that eggs and chickens are more than just merely abstract.
Still....

"Vilco" > wrote in message
...
> Chatty Cathy wrote:
>
>> Sad, but true. Can't remember who said (think it was LadyJane) that
>> at least her kids know that eggs come from a chicken and not out of a
>> carton from the supermarket.... same sort of thing, IMHO.
>
> LOL, sorta reminds me of a story on a newspaper where a family from
> the city was visiting a farm, IIRC they were from Milan, and a kid
> told his mom: "Check that out, Mom: they got uncooked animals!"

LOL!

"Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
...
>
> I find people who can't taste the difference to be the odd ones. I
> can sort of understand thinking that you don't have time or if you
> don't
> have an interest or whatever, and make the prepackaged junk, but when
> people say things like box mix whatever tastes the same as homemade to
> them, I am mystified. It is even worse when they _prefer_ the prefab
> to
> the homemade.
>
> We, OTOH, are growing more of our own food, we raise chickens, we
> will have honeybees next year, we shop at farmers' markets as much as
> we
> can, make most food from scratch, etc. We would love to get a few
> sheep
> and some cows, and our sons would like to raise a pig. We were even
> reading about what it would take to grow a portion of our own grains
> for
> flour.

I wish we could live like that. It's harder here. We don't have enough
land to raise livestock.

It boggles my mind when I meet people who, as you say, can't taste the
difference. Tonight I tried to get my almost-10-year-old son to try some
sweet-and-sour chicken sauce on his fried chicken. He tried a bit, and
said he didn't like it because it was too much like "compote," which he
says he doesn't like.

Mordechai

In article <QUqLg.923$FP3.259@trndny02>,
"Mordechai Housman" > wrote:

> Just how can a scythe be better than a gas-powered mower?

I'd prefer a mini-cow if they'd make one. I suppose it'd get lonely. Two
micro cows! Now, that's the ticket. Rabbits?
Alas, all are currently forbidden by local law in my semi-urban setting.

leo

--
<http://web0.greatbasin.net/~leo/>