Originally Posted by
emma69
I think part of the pickiness issue with children is that they are not exposed to a large range of foods, to try new things. If you are taking your kids out to try new things every week / month, their palette is likely to be broader than if they eat only at home.
My parents tried that, and the pickiness has stuck to spitting distance of 40, so... I'm inclined to disagree.
Why is it a problem in N. America?
Because of the drinking age laws; I don't see the point in knowing hypotheticals about something you can't drink.
IMO - I know people who 'don't like wine' who have only ever tried a very limited number of wines
I've tried a moderately large range of wine, although most of them at the inexpensive end of the range since I was doing so in college.
Even if ultimately you choose not to drink wine, it is another string to your bow to understand it.
What's the point in understanding it if you don't like wine? It sounds to me like having an opinion on UK politics as an American or vice versa; sure, you can have one, but if you don't get to vote you still don't get to vote.
I don't eat meat, but I can butcher, fillet cook a steak to its desired temperature, etc. It is a life skill.
This I'd have to see; as a general rule, I wouldn't trust most people to cook food properly if it's not food they enjoy -- let alone food they wouldn't eat at all.
OK, there's a fine dining difference, finally, although you certainly don't need to be in the $150-a-head range (or even the $50-a-head) to get a salad fork.
True - how about a fish knife? They seem to be rare in lower price point restaurants.
I've never knowingly seen a fish knife and don't know what distinguishes one; I've eaten at some fancy places that specialized in seafood (Aqua up in SF, cerca 2001 probably the fanciest, and certainly the priciest -- IIRC we were over $200 for two people without any alcohol) and I don't recall getting a separate knife.
"Use utensils in from the edges" and "watch what other people use" seems a good enough rule for me.
Again, you can learn to read how wine lists are written without having to drink it - things like the worst value wine is often the second cheapest bottle of red or white - people don't like to appear 'cheap' by picking the least expensive, so they go one up, and restaurants know this.
Sure... but what's the point? I don't quite "not drink" but nobody is ever going to be impressed by my wine choices, and I'd look like an idiot trying to impress anyone.
As it happens tho, I had sips of wine from my parents' glasses from a very young age, and as a teen would have a half glass fairly often.
Sure; I had a little bit of wine and beer at home growing up -- not at what I'd call "a very young age" but starting probably 10-12. I can't say I had much of either until my late teens when I started drinking to get buzzed/drunk, because none of what parents favored was to my taste. Once I started buying on my own, I found things I liked the taste of.
There are also situations in business, for example, when even if it is not really your thing, you might be asked to choose a wine by your host, or have to make choices for a dinner you host.
In practice, around here, there's almost ALWAYS someone more into wine around who's happy to make the decision... and if someone else is paying, I'm happy to have them pick something fancy. If not, around here knowing that a mid-price domestic Cabernet is safe with red meat or other rich foods, and a mid-price domestic Chardonnay is safe with salad/light entrees is good enough.
The former isn't really my taste in reds, and if I were ordering a glass to suit myself wouldn't be what I'd get, but it's a safe choice that just about anyone who drinks wine will tolerate.
Understanding which wines pair well with a variety of foods, which wines alienate people, and what types wines are good for drinking before dinner, without food are all helpful things to know.
To some limited extent, sure.
A matter of table manners - it is considered uncouth to cut a bread roll, or to butter the entire roll at once, or to bite the roll. You break off a single bite, butter only that bite and pop it into your mouth.
I don't know if that piece of etiquette has survived for the American middle class. Fancy restaurants over here are as likely to serve things pre-sliced (or partially pre-sliced) from a baguette or similar load as have indiviudual rolls, for that matter (or as in my
favorite restaurant anywhere, serve a single round large enough to share.
Wedge salads are, I believe, entirely an American thing - at least I have never come across one in Europe or elsewhere,
The only other places I've had them have been with essentially American sorts of foods (whether labelled as American style or not); pity that they haven't made them over there more.
Whole leaf salads on the other hand are the norm, and you eat it by folding the lettuce into a managable bite - you can use the knife to help fold the lettuce around the fork, but you don't cut the leaves.
That sounds messy and inconvenient. Whole-leaf salads are definitely not the norm here, at least for lettuce -- although chopped versus torn definitely varies -- and the small weedy stuff tends not to need cutting. I very recently had an absolutely lovely whole-leaf butter lettuce salad, and can't imagine trying to eat that one without a knife. My recollection is that the restaurant in question provided a knife with the course, so I think that was their intent.
Not fine dining, though, in that case -- although the price for their particular upscale casual (fancy CA interpretation of Chicago Pizza) the prices were up there with an inexpensive end of fine dining.