I have been developing a deep disgust for my fellow humans. Perhaps "countrymen" would fit better than "humans" as I am sure that the people for whom I feel the most disdain are primarily Americans.
Americans love to eat. But we dont just eat the way other people from other countries do: we eat in excess! we cant just order one meal and be happy, we have to get as much as we possibly can for our dollar. How dare we stereotype other nationalities and call them cheap or swindlers when we try to cram as much in our wallets and mouths as we possibly can.
a direct representation of this is the "Never Ending Pasta Bowl" at the Olive Garden. disgusting. for $8.95, a single person can get endless pasta, bread, and choice of endless soup or salad. thats fine, especially since the price is so low, but it just is not enough for the Americans.
Endless pasta: people literally sit and eat bowl after bowl after bowl of pasta. I am surprised that people dont regularly die of carb-shock! and as if bowl after bowl of penne, or linguine, or angelhair is not enough, add the sauce: alfredo, meat sauce, five cheese marinara! did you know that eating one portion of Olive Garden alfredo sauce is like drinking a pint of heavy cream? its true. but dont tell the corporate office I told you.
so we have the endless pasta. that should be plenty to fill up any person. It is endless.
but, that obviously isnt enough, so first they have to cram themselves with endless soup or salad. So many people ask me: "the never ending pasta comes with endless salad, right?" as if, if the salad was not included, they would not order the pasta. is it that important to have endless salad with endless pasta? and god forbid the garlic bread does not come out constantly.
how do these people eat so much?
and then complain about McDonalds having such calorie loaded food!!!
You can probably eat five Big Macs for the caloric intake of the five cheese ziti at Olive Garden. I'm serious.
so my new complex is this: I cannot watch people eat without feeling queasy. It is fine if i am sitting down in the resturant and eating and am able to ignore the people around me, but as a server, watching the guests mindlessly stuff themeselves into a food-induced coma disgusts me.
Have you ever seen Casper, the one with Christina Ricci? the scene where the three ghosts are eating breakfast and all of the food is just falling on the floor...thats what i imagine when i am at work and serve people their food. it literally makes me sick.
and the bicker over the smallest price change. the Never Ending Pasta Bowl, like i said, costs 8.95. that is almost $1 more than a lunch portion of pasta. yet people complain that it is expensive! how, i ask you, is endless amounts of pasta, 75 bowls of pasta, if you wish, expensive at $9? how can people take themselves that seriously?
and then there is the lack of manners. We consider ourselves advanced, ahead of other countries, yet we have no table manners. NONE. we shout at the table, answer cell phones in the middle of dinner, allow our children to literally throw food in resturants, much less run around the resturant and then get upset when the server trips on the little brat and spills hot food on them.
and we chew with our mouth open, stuff our mouths till food is over flowing down our chin. then we speak to the server (who we treat like a dog and snap our fingers at) with full mouths. heres a news flash, america: most servers are college students, or college graduates trying to get a new job. I.E. they probably have a higher degree than you do and are usually smarter than you. dont treat them like infants.
i need to get out of the resturant industry. hopefully I'll get a call back from one of my applications soon. the food service industry depresses me.
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3 comments:
Have you heard about the "slow food" organisation? Quote from Wikipedia: "Slow Food began in Italy 1986 to resist the opening of an McDonalds near the Spanish steps in Rome. It claims to preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within an ecoregion."
It has become quite popular over here in europe these days.
M.
I have never heard of this! Extraordinary. Of course, it would never work here, if only because we have no "cultural cuisine" to hold onto or to value. I think part of the problem is that, having no real history or self-contained culture, over the centuries, we have taken only the tasty parts of other cultures, but not the refined tradition and manners that should have come with the food.
To my knowledge, other countries and cultures have used food throughout history as a way to share and to bring the family together. In some cultures, pouring tea is a tradition, in others, eating with the hands is an age-old custom. habits like these have a purpose and impact the health and lifestyle of those people who practice them. Americans sadly have no age-old customs defining our food or how we eat. Therefore, we have become eating machines that consume on the go with no regard for the sacred nature of food.
I hope that the new "green" trend and our failing economy will force people to think more about what they consume and what it costs the environment, their body, and our economy. Perhaps America will be pushed unknowingly into a food and consumer revolution. One can only hope.
Thank you for the comment. I have been researching "slow food" and it is quite intriguing.
You mention the absence of the family gathering tradition. On my travels to the US I got the same impression. It seemed to me as if the people were seeing eating as a waste of time.
We on the other hand, after we have finished our meal, like to keep siting by the table and discuss things. I like that very much. But maybe that's becoming more and more important when you grow older.
Glad you liked the "slow food thought" Enjoy your meals:)
M.
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