food
 

definitely

Poultry well done.
Pig products well done
lamb medium
Beef/steak rare
Vegetables al dente
Salad not drenched with dressing

Good evening! Several posts that were not on-topic have been removed. As always, if you have a question about such things, please feel free to contact me privately. Enjoy your food :)

cblaisd
Moderator, Dining Buzz

Chewy ginger blows. Agreed: It's woody.

But in a soup - Chinese or Thai, in little julienned pieces where it has the consistency of a crisp radish: it's yummy.

No store bought procesed salad dressings. Store bought is only okay if freshly made on site. If nothing fresh is available at a restaurant or on a plane, I will use oil and vinegar or simply eat a salad without dressing.

When in Japan, I have a strong preference for Japanese beef.

No processed Turkey or Chicken Breast in a club sandwich.

I am not obsessive about it, but in general I believe in buying organic whenever it makes sense.

I do my best to limit my consumption of threatened species of fish, or in some cases completely abstain from eating them. I will not eat reef fish at restaurants unless I am confident they have been ethically fished.

I believe in voting with my wallet by supporting local independantly owned markets, farmer's markets, and specialty food stores. I like to support ethical businesses that treat their employees and suppliers fairly.

+1

I've always been told that you do not eat those pieces in Thai soups. They stay in the bottom of the bowl along with the tough lemongrass. Works for me.:)

1)Try everything in a foreign land.

Snakes and Scorpions being the most adventurous food I ate.

no mayo, ever
no bananas, ever
If I eat sliced bread it must be well toasted.
No prepared canned or frozen food. A single item, such as canned tomatoes is ok.
No bottled salad dressing.

Meat can't be slimy or have any fat or gristle on it. I'm fine to do without meat if it is at all questionable.
I can't eat any dish that combines poultry and tomatoes.
I eat locally most of the time on trips but if I am on a long trip I don't feel bad for taking a respite from local food. Especially if I am hungover.
I am fine with almost any food room temp rather than hot. But soup must be very hot.

I love bacon dipped in maple syrup! Very, very crunchy bacon.

Banana sandwich: sliced bread (untoasted), mayo, sliced bananas http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ile_tongue.gif

Vegetables? Always and everywhere. I do wish that restaurants could be bothered to de-stem their fresh spinach though.

My rules

- Pasta is an italian name, that's way it has to be eaten in the italian way. No meatballs, no "alfredo" sauce, no ketchups, no fruits, no big chunk of meat and it's not a side for main dishes, it is a main dish. It has to be cooked for the right amount of time (every kind of pasta has a different time) and put into water that is already boiling and that has already been salted.

- Pizza, again is an italian dish. Real fresh mozzarella, real fresh tomatoes, not chewy but not too crusty, thin with taller and softer edges all around. Again no meatballs, no big chunck of meat or fish, no pineapple or ethnic spices. Please.... ;-)

A part from those two, everything else is more than welcome to make his way into my stomach the way it is. ;-)

PS I always thought "well-done" was a compliment, not a a way to cook a steak..

Mostly at home rules, some are hard to follow on road.

Only 1st cold press oils.
No big chunks of onions of any kind, at home or on the road, hate onions, sort of dislike coconut as well.
Fresh vegetables, not canned, rarely frozen.
Mayo only, no Miracle Whip, butter not margarine.
If there is a hot sauce that tastes good on the dish, I want it. Tabasco, picante, bring out the hotter salsa, wasabi, red chili sauce, Sriracha sauce, hot mustard, cayenne pepper sauce, red pepper flakes (okay not a sauce), chili garlic sauce, hot BBQ sauce and so on.
I like my hot food hot (temperature), when I bring carry out home even if the place is only 6 blocks away I heat it some more when I get home.
I like a 4 minute egg instead of a 3 minute.

My travel rule is to eat local. (ok, for the really long trip where I am worn down I will seek out something from home)

But I see travel as the perfect time to try new things, so I like to eat what the locals do. Indian food in London, Brazilian and Japanese in Amsterdam :p
I do my research and find out what are the best regional dishes, and go for those. In Europe I always luck out as each area has specialty beers and cheese. I am a historian, so am trying to document these trends.

Pasta should never :mad: be a main dish!

It is a main dish for the 99,999% of italians... And pasta is an italian dish...

It's like saying that sushi should never be made with fish...

LOL, I agree there.

New personal food rule--never let Mr. Kipper touch a french press for coffee. :)

I thought Italian meals (at least of the fancy restaurant kind) were potentially both a primi and a secondi, of which pasta would generally qualify as the primi?

Not quite the same as a US meal where there is one entree/main dish and sides, but two proper and separate courses.

Indeed, but only a few people have both primo and secondo during a normal meal. It happens when you go out at restaurant, as you said, but a normal meal is either pasta or a secondo and maybe a salad or something to begin or end the meal..

Thanks to this thread (and I've only read a few dozen posts!) I've resolved never, never to go into the restaurant business. It must be very profitable, else why put up with all the, uh, rules?

1. wont eat a caesar without anchovies
2. if theres mushroom or calamari appetizers, im likely ordering it
3. pepper EVERYTHING
4. never, ever, ever, ever order chicken. the least noble meat.
5. tilapia is not a 'real' fish.
6. i lean towards for the different dish (livers, goat, etc)
7. i rarely get pork. not consciously. just because theres few attractive pork dishes offered
8. unless at a nice steakhouse, steak is ordered rare because invariably it gets overcooked

- No other chocolate than Belgian (exception: the ones LX gives out)
- Steak should still be red on the inside
- No fries outside of Belgium unless in dire emergencies
- Fries should be eaten with mayonaise and/or ketchup
- Only grain mustard or ground mustard from Tierenteyn is allowed
- I try to get some of the local cuisine while away from home
- Never McDonalds, the rest follows #3
- Overcooked fish gets politely declined

WOW! Can't believe I have mostly the same thoughts. Only disagree with never ordering chicken. Many Italian and French chicken dishes are definitely worth ordering.

Re: #6, I almost always order things on the menu others would deem as unusual (since I probably might not have the opportunity to try them otherwise). For example rattlesnake, alligator, elk, moose, etc. Have found some great things this way and on occasion been "burned"

I agree 100%

On the 'unusual' ones, unless the restaurant is an 'exotic foods' place where people specifically go to try such things, I would wonder about how fresh 'unusual' items were - boring as it is, presumably a restaurant gets through a lot of e.g. chicken breast, so chances are it is going to be pretty fresh. Someone ordering 'sauteed calf liver', in a US restaurant (different offal rules apply elsewhere!) on the other hand, I wonder how often it is served and whether it has 'lurked' about the fridge for a few days.

Yeah, it's always best to order the specialty of the house, as you know they'll go through it quickly so it'll be fresh, and at a good place, it'll also be what gets the most purchasing attention, so the quality is probably the highest to begin with.

e.g. ordering fish at a steak place, or steak at a fish place, probably not the best idea.

I usually order unusual items if they are listed as one of the special entrees, they are regional dishes or the restaurant advertises that particular item. Have tried some great things that I would have otherwise have missed out on (elk, moose, bulls testicles, turducken, etc) and been burned a few times (rattlesnake, eel, alligator and others). Just my taste preferences.

i have only eaten in the northern half of italy, and in restaurants. if there is a pasta dish(a few exceptions) it is the prima piatti, not the main course. the name pasta is i think italian(did not research it) but:Chinese-style noodles have also entered the cuisines of neighboring East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan (jajangmyeon and ramen, for example, are both of Chinese origin), as well as Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia......and Noodles, often made from wheat dough, became a prominent staple of food during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE).

in venice, milan, bologna, restaurants, pasta is not that popular.pasta is very popular in us "red spagtetti mills" as most of the population came from the south of italy, where i gather pasta is very popular.

Actually pasta is popular throughout all Italy. There are even many kind of pasta that were invented and much more popular in the north than in the south, think about lasagne, tortellini, risotto, sauces including gorgonzola, saffron, etc etc etc... They all come from the north.

Primi piatti are one of the two main courses of your meal. The majority of italians usually eat either a "primo" or a "secondo", and every restaurant in Italy have some pasta dish, unless it is a pizzeria or a specialty restaurant.
There is no "main" course in our menus. If you're angry you may get both a primo and a second otherwise you choose..

PS Noodles are totally different from spaghetti, which is only one of many kind of pasta. Pasta can only be made with durum wheat flour while noodles are made from a variety of dough for example..
Both noodles and pasta were in use thousands of years ago. There are Etruscans paintings from 4th century BC showing ladies making pasta at their home for example, and noodles traces in china from the 8th century BC..

Now I know why Italians eat so much. They're always angry. :D
Just kidding.

Before my doctor made the food rules for me, I always enjoyed eating local cuisine in foreign countries.
Now I have to select whatever is healthy, has low sodium, low in carbs and stay away from sugary items.:eek:

The True Cost of Shrimp
 

My rule: No farmed or frozen shrimp from Thailand. The shrimp industry in Thailand is exploitative of workers (who are often victims of human trafficking), and wreaks havoc on the environment and animal populations whose habitats are destroyed by irresponsible shrimp farming practices.

The True Cost of Shrimp: http://www.solidaritycenter.org/file..._of_Shrimp.pdf

Thailand's Shrimp Farms threaten rare Fishing Cats:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technolo...-fishing-cats/

Nationwide chains ranging from Trader Joe's to Costco and Walmart all sell frozen farmed shrimp from Thailand, and by purchasing it consumers are unwittingly supporting this destructive industry which violates human rights.

Exploited workers who suffer under illegal working conditions, as well as animals and their habitats pay an enormously high price for the cheap shrimp available in our supermarkets and from restaurant chains.

My list of food rules includes:
-No peppers ever (yes, and I will diligently pick out each and every red, green, white etc pepper from all foods prior to eating)
-Mayo on roast beef sandwich with swiss
-Plain grilled american cheese sandwich (NO bacon, tomatoes etc) smashed really, really thin
-No 'hot' fruits-- which means basically I don't eat fruit pies
-Yes to warm, liquidy chocolate pudding and barely chilled jello
-No ice in milk (hubby does this all the time, and he knows it annoys me!)
-No gravy
-Very lean meat, -- no fat or grizzle (so no prime rib), and not for heath reasons. it is just the fat is very unappealing to me
-Love white bread and if I think I want to eat healthy, I'll go for seeded rye--but definately not whole wheat
-Ice cold coke (no pepsi please) and NOT diet.
-Only fresh squeezed oj
-Toasted onion bagels with butter (no other kind)

I don't like it when people squeeze lemons using one hand while putting the other underneath to catch the seeds that might fall out. If I wanted to drink the sweat from your hands I would tell you.

Oh yes it should.

Everything ale.penazzi has written is correct. He's writing what real people eat in Italy, not what they eat when they go out to a nice restaurant when they might have an extra course.. And in a higher level of restaurant, at least in the north, Italians are less likely to make one of those courses pasta these days.

But at home it's different. Many Italians could not survive if at least one meal each day is not pasta.

Surely a discussion of cultural food norms in a thread on personal food rules is somewhat missing the point.

Setting aside more fundamental preferences on processed foods, free-range etc a few that spring to mind:

Bacon is made from pork, anything else is not bacon
If my yolk isn't runny then the egg is overcooked
Pineapple has no place on a pizza
Tea must be served with COLD milk, warm milk tastes wrong
Sauce should be mixed with pasta, not sat on top.
Mild hot sauce is an oxymoron, and serves no purpose

With the exception that tea must be served straight up and iced only, you are absolutely correct.^

McDonalds for breakfast, KFC for lunch and Pizza Hut for dinner does not constitute a balanced diet.

My Rules
 

Mayonnaise belongs on neither burgers nor fries. That is catchup's job.

That's about the opposite of how I like my grilled cheese sandwiches, from cheese (usually anything but American) to bread (thick Texas toast or sourdough.)

My biggest rule is in every city I visit I must have at least one "good" meal. This mostly goes for when I was country hopping in Europe, but applies everywhere.