Omnivore's Dilemma Part Three

The most beautiful state park I've ever been to is Mount St. Helens, located in the Olympic Mountain Range in Washington State. The volcano erupted in 1980, and changed the landscape significantly. When one visits there, there are now patches of growth and wildlife but the destruction is still clearly visible in the toppled trees and the changes in the shape of the mountain. On pages 381-382, Pollan describes the landscape of Eldorado Nation forest as "the same landscape exhibited a tranquil, almost modernist abstraction that was just beautiful". That kind of natural destruction is a harsh beauty of our natural world. Without fire, there would be little new growth in forests.

Thus, the third section to me, and the foraging of mushrooms in general, was the most beautiful section to me. Pollan also earned my respect when he finally shot his own pig, because for all his talking he finally proved his worth and willingness to see his omnivorousness to the end.

In a quick side note about the smell of mushrooms, there's a perfume about that that's one of the more amazing things I've smelled. One can find it here. Yes, it's hippie-dippie, but it recalled the feeling of section three's writing to me.

Overall, my dissent with parts one and two of the Omnivore's Dilemma was negated by the third sections, and Pollan's reverence towards food. He may not have a solution for the American food industry, by he knows nature is a good place to start looking for a balanced ecosystem and inspiration of life. Corny, I know, but soothing enough.

Recap of Food Reviewing (Part 3 of JGF Review)

Originally I expected Just Good Food to have fresh, delicious, and not too expensive food to eat. Only two of those things are true. The food was fresh and inexpensive, but it didn't meet my high bar of deliciousness. If the highlight of the meal is a dessert, then the rest needs some work. Also, I was worried it might be dead inside. It was. I'm not sure if the nice weather was to blame, or if JGF is a more eat and run kind of place.

The was dissonance between my expectations and assumptions too. I did not expect there to be cool jazz playing in the background. There was, and it fit the mood of the place, but the nature of the music startled me at first. I think of jazz as lounge music, not deli music. I also assumed I would not need to go back twice to get a feel for the place, but I did and it slid my original feelings into a higher bar of positive mixed review.

The view of "authentic" as a claim to fame for restaurants is a complicated one, based on location and inhabitants of that area. For JGF, they are an authentic wedding catering business, though that is not what they claim, it's just a service they offer. In that case, the food I'm eating can be served at a large scale, and be transported easily well. Am I thinking that as a consumer? No, because that's not my focus, maybe I just want a sandwich, not a wedding lunch. In terms of dining in restaurants as a kind of tourism, JGF is a local business. Maybe I want to experience the culture of Kalamazoo through its food. By eating food that comes from the area, an individual can taste the "flavors" of that area.

In the future, experiencing "tourist" like actives, such as eating, I now know not every experience will have "good" food, though it's a learning experience all the same. I also know how distracting pictures can be, and what a crutch they are when writing reviews. Plus, I really dislike cameras at a dinner table, along with cell phones. Technology and food are just a distracting combination. For a review, removing oneself from the experience makes a better written piece about said experience, but it deadens the whole memory making aspect. It becomes a job, and it's not quite so fun anymore. Food reviews, and blogging too, are quite a bit of work.

Just Good Food Revised Review

Eating at Just Good Food can often be overwhelming, as there are multitudes of choices. In fact, one can eat dessert first, as I did. In the dish of Marinated Strawberries, the soft crunch of strawberries was augmented by their pleasing to look at fan shape and vibrant red hue. The marinade was sweet, and tasted as if it was made from brown sugar and honey.  

In terms of entrees, there are sandwiches that be be ordered in half or whole sizes, or anything from the deli case. There is a soup of the day as well and desserts. Vegetarians and vegans will also be pleased by choices catered to them, as half the sandwiches are veg friendly and the deli has an assortment of vegan items.

One such thing was the Health Salad, a relative to coleslaw without the mayo, that had a vinegary tang and was made up of cabbage, carrots, red peppers. On the whole, it was colorful to look at, and low in calories, the reason of my dining champion to order it.

There is also a section of Mexican food in the deli, which includes chicken enchiladas. A single enchilada can be ordered for two seventy five, although I had two. They were served hot, with melted cheese on top. The corn tortilla hid the mildly spicy shredded meat, and the cheese came away in strings.

For refreshments, there are assorted soft drinks stored in an upright cooler. They also have water with a suitably cheesy sign, “Just Good Water”. Prices for sandwiches range from five to eight dollars, around five if you get a half sandwich. You can also split a whole sandwich for an extra dollar, which is very economical. Sides are four dollars.On average, the cost for lunch is about thirteen dollars per person. Their hours run from 9am to 9pm, except Saturdays, which are from 9am until 4pm. On Sundays Just Good Food is closed. There is handicapped access by an elevator, and there are kids chairs as well.

To get to Just Good Food, it’s about a fifteen minute walk from K College’s campus. If one is so inclined, it’s a straight shot down Academy and then a left at the end the park. The marker one is looking for is the Radisson, where one goes straight through the intersection at Rose St. until Rose Street Market comes into view. It’s on the left side of the street, about two blocks down from the Radisson.

When inside the building, follow the signs down into the basement, as the first floor is part of Just Good Food’s catering business, which is busy from May until December. What first greets guests in the jazz soundtrack, sometimes salsa or rhythmic. The walls are white with blue trim, and the tables and chairs are wooden and very clean. Looking up, there are ribbed glass domed deli lights that are fluorescent that make the whole place feel retro. The star of the show is the deli case though. It glows white, and the glass front covers all the refrigerated choices you could want. On top of the case are signs for sandwich selections. Meat sandwich signs are on the right, and vegetarian options are on the left. The cash register is to the right of the deli case, and so are the drinks. Just Good Food takes cash or credit, and is willing to split the bill for groups of people, i.e. students.

On a normal day, fellow diners are office workers from businesses downtown. The rush is usually around 12:30 in the afternoon, and when I was there at 11:30 there were maybe three tables full. One can also order and go if it’s nice day outside or if in a hurry. The service is friendly, and willing to wrap up leftovers if there are any. In comparison to their paper serving dishes and plastic containers, Just Good Food recycles the glass bottles drinks come in.

Overall, if one wants someplace to eat downtown that is uncomplicated and not very expensive, and also a local business, Just Good Food is a satisfactory place to do that.

Omnivore's Dilemma Part One

I don't think I've even been so bored reading about corn. Now, I've been to trips to Arizona and gotten the state parks ranger's spiel about how Native American thrived on corn. That was not boring. This was so tedious it became boring. If one sees the title in a book called "corn sex", one has gone too far and needs to pull a u-turn. Maybe because I also have a farm family background, the marvels of corn are not nearly so marvelous. Washington farmers in the 50s still fed their dairy cows grass. I've gone back and seen corn rows in Custer County, but there are still farms that grow alfalfa hay.

I would also like to point out how the author goes from waxing poetic to "oh noes! petroleum!" That kind of gave me whiplash reading that. He also offers no potential solutions, but instead talks about the dismantling of the New Deal programs. I get it, that was important. But why can't something be done? Bemoaning the fate of an industry designed to be highly prolific doesn't do much. Maybe in the scope of the book it's the readers who are being educated.

The section about beef cattle and the author's response made me sneer a little. He's so far removed from the process that his gets easily righteous. I want to tell him to go kill his own cow and to buck up boy.

There was a wave of farmers in the 70s that came from the hippie subculture. They were often called "gentleman farmers" because they didn't want to do any work, only reap profit, or in this case food. My father has stories of people who needed help, and still couldn't make a go of it. Many moved out after two seasons.

But enough about my own history and context. Maybe section two will be better.

CYOA

El Celler de Can Roca is a three star Michelin Spanish restaurant that has combined a novel way to experience fine dining. There's a review of a meal here, to get an idea of the place. Beyond the presentation of the food itself, my focus is on the innovation involved in the creating the dishes themselves.

I would say perfume and food is an unusual connection, no? Smell is important to taste, so to augment it with perfume is an interesting choice. It makes one think of wine tasting, and how it's frowned upon to wear perfume to such an event. In the article, we find that's not the case at all. The experience of smelling a perfume, originally a distillation, designed to go with a dessert is rather novel.


For our discussion on Thursday, I'd like to talk about how smell influences taste. There are experiments one can try at home, so as to analyze these factors before Thursday. You can hold your nose when eating, and see what happens. Or you can smell a spoonful of food thoroughly before each bite. These may seem a little weird, but eating involves more than the tongue.

For a different take on just smell, not involving taste, there's a review of the perfume here.

The video for Thursday:

Culinary Tourism Response

The anthropology perspective on tourism and food rituals we read for today's reading expanded my scope of the food "science".  Most of the things we've read for this class involve the exotic, and whether or not they taste good. Culinary Tourism instead focuses on what is exotic, and what is authentic. The dense text may at first seems like a hindrance, but is packed with a lot of information to savor. I wish the account of folklore and how it relates to food was explored more, although the use of "foodways" was broad enough for me to get a general sense of food traditions. It's also interesting to note that some Thai restaurants would not serve dishes to those if they were "other". The underlying critique on racism in this text, and perceived racism, is also interesting in how it affects self. The view that tourists go abroad to define themselves reflects back to colonialism and the interactions between host and visiting country. I'd also like to mention the types of tourists mentioned, and the high praise given the those looking for a faux-real experience. By having a more related attitude to what is vs. what's not authentic, the author suggests a tourist is able to experience more. I would argue these tourist trap like places are not the ideal they seem to be. I can think of Azteca, a tex mex restaurant, or Disneyland as two such examples. They are not "athentic" and the tourists who flock to them ignore the false fronts they put up. Maybe because I'm a person who wants to know how things work, I dislike such stage magic and illusionism about a culture. I'm also strongly dislike being seen as a country bumpkin who can be taken for a ride.

Just Good Food Review

To sandwich, or to not sandwich, that is the question. If you're willing to take a hop skip downstairs to a basement, you can sandwich. Just Good Food is nestled on Rose Street, just two blocks from downtown. If you're coming from Kalamazoo College, your land marker is the Radisson where you turn left. Next, you keep your eyes peeled for Rose Street Market, which is one the left side of the street. There is a sign for Just Good Food, and if you walk inside the building, you'll see a ballroom. This is not what you want. What you want is the flight of stairs going to the basement, where you will find the deli. There are more signs if you get confused.

Once inside, you'll look up and see the lovely florescent lights that have a half glass bowl on top of them. It's very retro. If you look left, there are wooden tables and chairs. To the right, where you avoid a blue trimmed white pillar-because basements need support, you'll see the deli. It glows white, and the glass dome covers all the refrigerated "sides" you could want. The sandwiches are out of sight, because they're prepared fresh. To choose what you want, you look at the row of black signs atop the deli case and choose a sandwich. That is a harder task then said, because it looked like there were more than twenty four signs. The ones on the left side had meat, and the ones on the right were vegetarian. My two companions and I stared at the choices until we threw our up and hands and guessed. Each of us got a whole sandwich, one side, and a drink. My side I had was the Curry Chicken, which had a thick layer of mayonnaise on both the chicken and cashews. There was a faint curry taste, but nothing I would recommend. One poor friend had the Pesto Chicken, which had softer chicken chunks and green peppers, but only tasted of mayo. The best side was the Green Beans Gruyere, which tasted of lemon vinegar that covered the almonds, green beans and cheese in a sparkling combination. Finnegan's Choice was a different combo of coleslaw, cheese and ham on rye bread. It reminded me of a Ruben and was served hot. The Secret Dan's Ham had the softest sourdough bread I've ever encountered, and on the inside the sandwich the ham was layered with mustard and the soft crunch of tomato and lettuce provided contrast to an otherwise okay, but fresh, sandwich. Lincoln's Walk in the Woods was sliced chicken breasts covered with melted cheese and lettuce, also on sourdough. I thought it was rather plain, but the friend who had it is a huge cheese snob and loved it. In the background to this meal was smooth jazz coming from the speakers, and the place had emptied out by the time we finished.

Nonetheless, Just Good Food is a place to go during your downtown lunch break, grab a sandwich and eat somewhere else. But I wouldn't make the trek down town for a sandwich, I would only go if I was in the vicinity. It's not a pilgrimage kind of place. Everything was fresh, and the leftovers where just as good on the second day. A bit of advice, don't order a whole sandwich- it's enough for two people. The service is very friendly and helpful when you have to wrap up your seconds though.

The basement has handicapped access by an elevator, and there are kids chairs. For drinks, there are assorted soft drinks stored in an upright standing cooler. They also have coffee. I had a Stewart's Cream Soda, all vanilla fizzy bubbles in glass, that contrasted well with the ham sandwich I ate. Prices for sandwich range from five to eight dollars, around five if you get a half sandwich. You can also split a whole sandwich for an extra dollar, which is very economical. Sides are four dollars. For three people who ordered whole sandwiches, one side and a drink each, the total came to just under fifty dollars. You could also just order the "sides" by the pound from the deli, and it ranged from Thai cucumber salad to a homemade fruit salad, which looked pretty good. Their hours run from 9am to 9pm, except Saturdays, which are from 9am until 4pm. On Sundays Just Good Food is closed.

If I was an office worker who wanted a healthy place to eat lunch for not very much money, Just Good Food would be a great place to do it. As a Kalamazoo student though, I could always make myself a sandwich. If you're bringing your parents to town, don't eat here. It's not that kinda place.

Curry Chicken and Secret Dan's Ham

Pesto Chicken and Finnegan's Choice

 

Lincoln's Walk in the Woods and Green Beans Gruyere

Hopes and Dreams for Just Good Food

I'm not a huge fan of eating out. Every time I do so, it's usually on vacation under duress as my family is hungry and wants to eat NOW. I've become good at using my phone and websites like Urban Spoon. It used to be my mom used the Triple A book of reviews, an American car trip/glove box staple, to find someplace to eat. For tomorrow, the 'restaurant' I'm planning to review is Just Good Food, unless some random act of God gets in my way. Just Good Food is a combination deli/cafeteria, which I usually encounter only in grocery stores. I have memories of Safeways and faux Asian food sitting inside steel trays under glass. I hoping from the photos I've seen of green interiors and wooden tables the place will be homely, but that's a tad better than chain store squeaky clean. I'm also hoping the place won't be dead around lunch time, because that would kill the ambiance. A empty restaurant is a worrisome restaurant. However, I've also only heard good things about JGF from friends. Some reviews from a few years ago on Urban Spoon said service was slow, but I take most reviews with a grain of salt. I trust word of mouth more, and having two or three people I know tell me about a place is enough to convince me to at least check it out. Also, I've got two friends coming with me so we can try lots of food. I'm concerned we may be let down, but good company usually makes up for a bad meal. I am an anxious eater, and if the food or ambiance isn't up to my standards, the control freak side of me will mutter it would have been better to eat in, where I can control everything.  I often like to say I have a plan A, B, and C so if JGF isn't what we want to eat and instead have to walk out, I have other restaurants in mind, like Tap House. Nonetheless, I'm sure the meal will be fresh, delicious, and most of all, not too expensive for three people.

On "Because the Fat Lady Has to Eat", i.e. my thoughts

The readings for this week were varied in style, tone, and cuisine of food review. Some were scathing, and some were a run down of the experience. My favorite was Sam Sifton's Because the Fat Lady Has to Eat. Because we've read A Cook's Tour, we know the importance of the head chef being Jonathan Benno, and Thomas Keller's second in command. For the reader then understands the high praise of the food, and Sifton extrapolates: "His rigati, a hollow ridged noodle that he offers with Dungeness crab, sea urchin, peperoncini, a few sea beans and quite a few pats of butter, is similarly charged with excess, tasting of open ocean and marsh, and the milk of the cow standing upon the shore".  I can almost taste it, and the heavy use of butter in the menu sounds fantastical. It's disappointing to hear the service is lacking with such great food behind it, but it's been four years since the review, and I assume they're improved some. This of course brings up relevancy of reviews, as one ok review did not hurt Lincoln Ristrorante. It seems that reviews themselves become time dated, and only good for one year or so. Now if the food reviewer said it was absolutely terrible, that review might have more of a negative effect. People dislike paying for bad food, so a warning from a food writer is probably a death knell for a bad one. One relevancy though, I wonder if in thirty years the writing could stand on it's own, or if this format will become so much dust in the wind, like outdated scientific knowledge.

Secret Ingredients Reading for Thursday

The theme for today's reading was the strong use of the past as a setting. Whether the story is set in France, or in New York, place in time is the most important charter. In All You Can Hold for Five Bucks, the beefsteak all you can eat is dependent on which part of New York you choose to eat in.  The politicians help too. Also the argument of whether or not it should be bread or toast the beefsteak is served upon provided interesting conflict on authenticity. In Is There a Crisis in French Cooking, the readers are introduced to an old man who represents how the world used to eat in France, richly, of course. The author contemplates the taking away of such richness is what makes his friend fall ill, even though today, we know it was probably a preexisting problem with his digestive track. The crisis of course is the question of what is healthy eating, or what is acceptable eating. Those questions are not always mutually inclusive. I want to ask how does culture affect the idea of food and health. What do you think, dear reader?