re: A path to becomming a Chef

You're a dbag and a poor excuse for a tiger fan.

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You're a dbag and a poor excuse for a tiger fan.

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but it's not really "troubles"

you are in a very small minority who see it at troublesome

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Right. Mike is about to slit his wrists because he lives in Baton Rouge which by all accounts has a pretty good selection of food.

That doesn't mean the rest of us are "troubled" by it.

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Why are you even posting on a food board if you care so little about FOOD?

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why would you assume I care so little about food? Just because I dont place food on some heavenly pedestal, I somehow devalue it? I love food, spent the overwhelming majority of my adult life in the restaurant industry, spent years working with wine and food pairings. You, have mistakenly assumed that the F&D Board was strictly for those who would gladly give their life for a pot roast.

I'm not about scoring "points" - what I am about is pointing out the absolute insanity of your stance. Your views on this subject are so far off from center, I have no recourse but to call it like I see it.

You're not the "bad guy" - this isnt good vs evil (although I suspect the way you romanticize yourself it is just that to you) You have simply taken an extreme stance on an issue. So extreme that others, like myself, feel compelled to point out the ridiculousness of its nature.

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courage

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here we go again - this is not courageous. Nobody -anywhere- views this as being courageous. There is no evil overlord, no cancer that is spreading thru the city. It's you, alone, in a fantasy land where you are the hero.

I do take it for what it is - that's the point, it is you that has blown this so far out of proportion it screams "pretentious a-hole." And exactly what are you standing up for? This "battle" is in your mind and your mind only. And yes I do stand up for things I believe in, but this fervor you have for the opportunity to eat food - food that only meets your standards - borders on insanity, because you are the only person who perceives it so.

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I never started this thread with the intention of personally attacking anyone

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yet you clearly are condemning the general public for not living up to your standards and tastes.

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I have to question why anyone from here would be so disinterested in having better food and food option

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you're once again confusing level of interest and overall quality of life. I'm sure people are somewhat "interested" in a new French restaurant, but the lack of, in no way, is detracting from anyone's daily quality of life.....well, except yours apparently

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That sir is very strange being where we are and what we so claim is our greatest attribute, the food and culture of the area.

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you are drinking the Kool-Aid waaaaaaaaay more than everyone else around you

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Looking Good... Eat up BR!

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Damn Stu, don't hold back. And thanks.

B-R-A-V-O, stu ... well done !!

He is sizing his cape as we speak.

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this would be a point of contention I would think. All we have to do is look at any "chain" thread to see that Mike's views are not that different than everyone.

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perhaps I should've been a bit clearer.

I too, am usually not a fan of chain restaurants, and avoid them at almost every turn. But, I was speaking more to his contention that chain restaurants and those that patron them are inherently "evil" and out to destroy local culture. They're just businesses, people, kids, students, employees....trying to make a buck. It is still America, we still do what we can to make money and participate in the economy. If they remain open and successful, it's not for anyone to find fault with good business accumen.

Mike has conveniently forgotten this fact.

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I was speaking more to his contention that chain restaurants and those that patron them are inherently "evil" and out to destroy local culture.

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Mike has conveniently forgotten this fact.

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You're putting words in Mike's mouth...

I never said that those who frequent chain restaurants were evil people, nor that chains were necessarily evil. Unprincipled, shortsighted, and lacking in good taste at times perhaps, but not evil people. If I ever uttered those words it was undoubtedly in anger/frustration/etc. I promise you that I don't relieve believe that.




This is what I think of chain restaurants:

1) I think Chains are parasites who feed upon areas and yet have no real vested interest in said areas of the country because quite honestly they don’t live in Baton Rouge, and can pack up and cut their losses without even a blink. If they start suffering as a company, they aren’t going to simply get tough and work through it. They’ll just cut off the dead weight and leave all those who work there to fend for themselves.

2) Chains in general contribute much less than do locals to the local economy of the city and state as more of their money leaves the state than stays here. That’s an economic problem for us all, and something this state in particular really can’t afford right now especially.

3) Chains do not use local products so they do not provide for a very sustainable environment for the city or state, do not normally purchase local products, and so do not help support our local farmers or seafood industry.

4) Chains do nothing at all to help promote or embrace the local culture of the area, but rather introduce and help maintain a mud culture for lack of a better term, a culture of some monolithic entity nationwide, a bland bunch of nothingness that does not embrace Cajun, Creole, or Louisiana in general. Matter of fact, they help destroy it in the end by their presence and the fact that in the end, there’s nothing special about this area but just another place in the country with chain restaurants sucking the culture right out of the place. When you ask a person’s favorite restaurant in Baton Rouge, and the first thing that comes out of their mouths is an out of state Chain, then the culture of Baton Rouge and what it once meant to say it is “Baton Rouge” is completely lost on them.

5) Chains are unprincipled in the kitchen, don’t cook food in their locations besides maybe proteins, but rather at a plant somewhere else and ship it in to remain consistent, and/or buy prepackaged preservative filled crap from Sysco and the like to save time and most importantly to not have to depend on idiots who work in the back of the house who they pay jack shite to be able to actually COOK FOOD.

6) Chains dictate food pricing and food options by their buying power nationally, and so what is available for you to buy at the local grocery stores often times can be said to be dictated by what national chains dictate in their buying power.. ie McDonalds in particular.

7) Chains hike up real estate so that locals find it quite difficult and expensive to get into business, especially chefs who would really like to put up a brick and mortar, but can’t afford it because of the overhead involved.

8) Chains bombard the airwaves with their advertising, advertising that locals just cannot budget for and because people are glued to their TVs and the general population are suckers for advertising and what comes over the TV, they are easy prey.

9) Chains are run by people who are into it for profit alone, and really don’t have their heart toward creating or just making bad arse food. They don’t love FOOD as much as they love MONEY. Loving profits aren’t a bad thing, and yes, we all want to make money, but the problem with chain restaurants is that their priorities are heavily leaning towards profits rather than food. They are much more business people who see an opportunity to make bank rather than food people who are in business to make a living doing what they really love and their heart is in.

10) Chains do not leave room for people who really want to get into the business for the love of cooking, creation, or furthering perhaps the culinary flavors of the area. Because of how they tie the hands of people in the kitchen, they kill the spirit and will of anyone who might have a burning desire to make it their profession and make a decent living out of it, a career. Once they realize just how they are now nothing more than an assembly line worker, or monkey who does a dance when the music is played rather than a person who has a sense of purpose by what they are able to do in the kitchen with food and concepts, then they bolt to another profession that will give them that sense of purpose in their lives and afford them a living they can live on.



ALL OF THIS does nothing but destroy potential bad arse food from really becoming a mainstay in Baton Rouge, destroys our culture, our economy, opportunity, and the addiction to these chains is what keeps Baton Rouge from becoming what it can be, a very special place that not only has a sense of it’s own self, a special feeling to the place, and food options that give people here things they haven’t tasted before, new fresh experiences in food, but adds to the feeling that Baton Rouge is more like a truck stop on your way to somewhere else than a point of destination.








I think what people need to ask themselves is what is your vision for Baton Rouge?

Do you have a vision for the future of Baton Rouge or are you of the school of thought that whatever happens, happens, and there’s nothing you can do about it?

Do you care about Baton Rouge? Are you content with being just like every other mid sized city in fly over country, or would you like to see Baton Rouge become something really special and unique, stop following the sheep but rather take the lead and begin thinking a little more forward than backwards or at the current situation and fashioning it as “just the way it is?”



I have no desire today to get into a sentence by sentence or word by word debate. If you take issue with my stance on chains being a real negative than a positive for Baton Rouge, then please, by all means tell me what GOOD chains bring to Baton Rouge that overwhelms the negatives that they bring here.


Much appreciated...