Half of US meat...

Matthew said:
You don't have to lie - just like on Seinfeld, say "It's breathtaking!"
Click to expand...
When there is nothing praiseworthy, praise the insignificant. ("The celery was very crisp.")
Haha.
 
steingar said:
I've always been very clear about my own dietary peculiarities, so no one has tried to serve me something I don't eat. My thought is if someone has gone to the trouble of making me something to eat, especially if they've had to do something new that they normally don't do for themselves (cook sans dead animal) I had better well eat it, enjoy it (or at the very least pretend to enjoy it) and be effusive in my thanks. I consider it rude to do otherwise if someone has prepared food for me. Do keep in mind that non-vegetarian chefs tend to do poorly in preparation of vegetarian dishes both in commercial and non-commercial settings.
Click to expand...
Of course if you are too effusive in your praise of something you don't care for you might find yourself being served the same thing the next time.

To be honest, though, I rarely eat at other people's houses unless it's a pot-luck situation. In those cases it's easy to skip over things you don't like. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've cooked for people in my house in the past 20 years. Part of that is because no one wants to drive out here. It also seems that most people I know would rather go out to a restaurant than cook.

steingar said:
This may be my own peculiarity, brought on by the amount of time and energy I spend in the kitchen. But I think anyone who cooks for themselves would feel likewise. Cooking is an art, and like any art it becomes somewhat emotional. To not eat someone's cooking is akin to criticizing their sculpture or musical performance; to do so is rude, at least in my opinion.
Click to expand...
But wouldn't you feel bad if you knew someone ate your cooking just to be polite even though they didn't enjoy it?

I think one of the reasons that many people are overweight or have other food-related problems is that they attach so much emotional baggage to food.
 
Everskyward said:
But wouldn't you feel bad if you knew someone ate your cooking just to be polite even though they didn't enjoy it?
Click to expand...

I doubt it, so long as the following apply:

-I did my level best to cook good food that at least I consider palatable
-I did my level best to make certain the proclivities of my guests were taken into account to the best of my ability
-The food I served them was both nutritious and healthy

I usually serve buffet style so everyone can take what they want. I typically dish out lots of seconds, and I have been known to run slightly short (my portions are far smaller than those of others, making the estimation of how much to make occasionally difficult and inaccurate).

An active social life does involve this sort of interaction. I pride myself on being both a good host and a good guest. Folks are usually happy to come back to my place, and often happy to have me back at theirs. And to be honest, the worst I've had was something not as good as I might make it. No one has ever served me actively bad food in their home. I've had really bad food in restaurants, though.
 
How about buying a plate of carne asada cooked over coals in half a 30 gallon drum on a street corner in podunk Mexico? As long as it is sizzling I'm good with it. The sickest I ever got from something that I've eaten was from pizza at the Pizza Hut in the middle of the Mall of America.
 
steingar said:
No one has ever served me actively bad food in their home.
Click to expand...
You haven't been to my house. :D

I've thrown out food that I've cooked for myself... recently.

I've had bad food at people's houses, although most of it was quite a while ago at the home of some pseudo-relatives. Can we say SALT? I like salt but most of their food was inedibly salty.
 
Everskyward said:
You haven't been to my house. :D

I've thrown out food that I've cooked for myself... recently.

I've had bad food at people's houses, although most of it was quite a while ago at the home of some pseudo-relatives. Can we say SALT? I like salt but most of their food was inedibly salty.
Click to expand...

I have made bad things, but always an experiment (something new I've not made before) gone wrong. If you don't have something go wrong now and again, you aren't trying hard enough. I don't serve experiments to others ever.
 
The problem with cooking..if you want it to be good..you have to get enjoyment out of cooking. I don't. Food is energy. I'll eat about whatever as long as I can convince myself it's reasonably healthy. The faster I can get eating out of the way the more I can commit time towards things I care about.
 
Everskyward said:
Of course if you are too effusive in your praise of something you don't care for you might find yourself being served the same thing the next time.

To be honest, though, I rarely eat at other people's houses unless it's a pot-luck situation. In those cases it's easy to skip over things you don't like. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've cooked for people in my house in the past 20 years. Part of that is because no one wants to drive out here. It also seems that most people I know would rather go out to a restaurant than cook.

But wouldn't you feel bad if you knew someone ate your cooking just to be polite even though they didn't enjoy it?

I think one of the reasons that many people are overweight or have other food-related problems is that they attach so much emotional baggage to food.
Click to expand...
You don't have to be effusive to be polite. I agree with Anthony. Unless you are just simply socially retarded, which I know a few people who are, all you need to say at the end of the meal is that it was "nice. Just say, "that was nice." After all, it isn't only about the food. I also understand that there are people out there who just flat are not going to eat anything that doesn't look good to them, or that they are not familiar with. Those people who were taught as kids to always color in the lines, but for myself, I've choked down a mouthful a time or two just to make my host feel good. If that is compromising myself, so be it. If your self importance is too much to do that, you probably aren't getting invited to spend time with other people anyway.
 
attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • omnomnomivore_fullpic.jpg
    omnomnomivore_fullpic.jpg
    39.5 KB · Views: 57
My dad moved off the farm when he was 60, and my brother-in-law moved out there and took over the daily operations. My dad decided to take up running in order to stay in shape. He was a fast runner, and started winning his age group in 5k and 10k races. After a couple of years he became obsessive about running and his diet. He was reading everything he could get his hands on about healthy eating. He would stalk the shelves in the book stores for books with the latest diets for athletes. I didn't really keep track of what he was eating, but it all had to be organic, low fat. For a while it was high protein, then for a while it was high carbohydrates. For a while he was eating four rice cakes a day. Just everything like that. First he got very buff, for an old man. Then after a while he started looking skinny. Then he went to looking frail. Then he started getting sick a lot. My mom in the mean time became a vegetarian and was pretty much eating the same things as my dad, sans the skinless chicken breasts. He got so that he was scared to death to even go out to eat because there were no restaurants that would serve the kind of foods he thought were healthy. By the time he was seventy he was really getting weak, and had to quit running, which put him into a fit of depression. I thought that he was just getting old. We took him to several doctors, and finally took him down to the VA hospital. The doctor there said that it wasn't just that he was getting old, he had the same symptoms of starvation that POWs manifest after years of poor diet and no exercise. My dad had almost literally starved himself to death. He is now in his eighties, and still under the care of the doctor that finally diagnosed what was wrong with him. He has still yet to recover completely. The doctor said that at his age he probably wouldn't. I take him out every Thursday for lunch. I make him eat. We are going out today. Before we go I will look in his refrigerator and make sure there is food, and that the food that was there last week is gone. For all I know he is throwing it down the drain. I hope not, but that is how it is when someone gets so obsessive about diet.
 
Not everyone who watches what he or she eats is borderline for mental illness. I'm not starving, believe me. Indeed, quite the opposite, to my continuing dissatisfaction.
 
steingar said:
Not everyone who watches what he or she eats is borderline for mental illness. I'm not starving, believe me. Indeed, quite the opposite, to my continuing dissatisfaction.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying that watching your diet and eating healthy is bad. I'm just saying that some people become so obsessive about it that they lose the ability to reason. That's all. I watch my diet as well. I just try not to obsess over it.
 
EdFred said:
I disagree. We all have different tastes. I rarely go out to eat, because who wants to sit alone at a restaurant, and due to that I cook A LOT. I don't buy anything premade except for chicken noodle soup, because when I'm sick the last thing I want to do is cook. So I come up with a lot of different things. If I make something, and you don't eat it all, I won't be offended. I'll simply ask what was wrong with it, and go back to the drawing board on tweaking it for the next time I make it. I had my parents over a couple months ago and made French Onion soup. My mom loved it, and my dad hated it, can't please everyone. Hell, even I've thrown stuff out, because I couldn't save the taste of it.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the only reason we go out to eat anymore is convenience. We have come to learn that we can make tastier stuff at home - especially BBQ. Nobody in my immediate family ever gets ribs, pulled pork, or brisquette at a restaurant anymore because I've nailed ribs, my dad handles brisquette and we split on pulled pork.

The only thing I've made at home recently where I honestly said "Well, that was a waste of time" was my attempt at homemade ravioli last week. I pretty much botched it on all fronts.

With that being said, sometimes we get home and say "I don't want to cook, do you? Nope? OK, Applebee's, here we come."
 
Maxmosbey said:
My dad moved off the farm when he was 60, and my brother-in-law moved out there and took over the daily operations. My dad decided to take up running in order to stay in shape. He was a fast runner, and started winning his age group in 5k and 10k races. After a couple of years he became obsessive about running and his diet. He was reading everything he could get his hands on about healthy eating. He would stalk the shelves in the book stores for books with the latest diets for athletes. I didn't really keep track of what he was eating, but it all had to be organic, low fat. For a while it was high protein, then for a while it was high carbohydrates. For a while he was eating four rice cakes a day. Just everything like that. First he got very buff, for an old man. Then after a while he started looking skinny. Then he went to looking frail. Then he started getting sick a lot. My mom in the mean time became a vegetarian and was pretty much eating the same things as my dad, sans the skinless chicken breasts. He got so that he was scared to death to even go out to eat because there were no restaurants that would serve the kind of foods he thought were healthy. By the time he was seventy he was really getting weak, and had to quit running, which put him into a fit of depression. I thought that he was just getting old. We took him to several doctors, and finally took him down to the VA hospital. The doctor there said that it wasn't just that he was getting old, he had the same symptoms of starvation that POWs manifest after years of poor diet and no exercise. My dad had almost literally starved himself to death. He is now in his eighties, and still under the care of the doctor that finally diagnosed what was wrong with him. He has still yet to recover completely. The doctor said that at his age he probably wouldn't. I take him out every Thursday for lunch. I make him eat. We are going out today. Before we go I will look in his refrigerator and make sure there is food, and that the food that was there last week is gone. For all I know he is throwing it down the drain. I hope not, but that is how it is when someone gets so obsessive about diet.
Click to expand...

caveat: I'm not a doctor.

Did the doctor discuss appetite enhancers?

Over the course of a few years before my father passed away, his appetite diminished and he got progressively more frail. Eventually we started using appetite enhancers. This really helped, my father went from under 110 lbs to 124 lbs and looked (and felt) much better. Note that my father's medical problem was primarily CPOD and not really related to his weight.

Good luck
 
Bob Noel said:
caveat: I'm not a doctor.

Did the doctor discuss appetite enhancers?

Over the course of a few years before my father passed away, his appetite diminished and he got progressively more frail. Eventually we started using appetite enhancers. This really helped, my father went from under 110 lbs to 124 lbs and looked (and felt) much better. Note that my father's medical problem was primarily CPOD and not really related to his weight.

Good luck
Click to expand...
I don't think that the doctor has said anything about appetite enhancers. I go to most of my dad's doctor appointments and I'll ask about that the next time.
 
steingar said:
Not everyone who watches what he or she eats is borderline for mental illness. I'm not starving, believe me. Indeed, quite the opposite, to my continuing dissatisfaction.
Click to expand...

Interesting thing though is that you can get fat eating very little if you don't get enough exercise. Your body sees "low food intake" and starts storing fat. My friends daughter is a full raw vegan, doesn't eat much and is overweight by more than a few pounds. I carry a few extra pounds due to my sweet tooth, but when I did long solo stints sailing at sea, I used to live off my homemade beef tenderloin jerky, oatmeal and eggs and after a month of that, I'd be in good shape.
 
Henning said:
Interesting thing though is that you can get fat eating very little if you don't get enough exercise. Your body sees "low food intake" and starts storing fat. My friends daughter is a full raw vegan, doesn't eat much and is overweight by more than a few pounds. I carry a few extra pounds due to my sweet tooth, but when I did long solo stints sailing at sea, I used to live off my homemade beef tenderloin jerky, oatmeal and eggs and after a month of that, I'd be in good shape.
Click to expand...

Didn't you say long solo sailing was illegal and dangerous?
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showpost.php?p=600535&postcount=21

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showpost.php?p=600566&postcount=25

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showpost.php?p=600598&postcount=32

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36512&highlight=solo+sailing&page=2

As for getting fat- for healthy people, you just need more calories going in than beung used as energy to get fat.
 
Henning said:
I most certainly did, and I stick by that conclusion that was developed from experience. I am now considerably older and wiser than I was then. I've said it before "God must like me" as I've survived to form my opinions.
Click to expand...
Honest answer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top