“Public opinion is always more tyrannical towards those who obviously fear it than towards those who feel indifferent to it.”
Bertrand Russell
Husband and the oldest like Sushi.
I will not look nor try.
I like fish. But, I like cooked fish.
Last Saturday, girls were out with friends, husband/oldest/I went to their favorite Sushi restaurant.
The plan was for oldest to run in and see if there would be something (prepared the way I like it) for me to eat. If not, we would go on to reliable salad place.
Oldest ran in restaurant and checked and came back out to tell me they would grill me a piece of chicken and steam veggies for me. No sauce, no oil, no butter, no salt.
When the waitress came to the table she had been told that I was special order kind of gal. I explained what I wanted. She went back to kitchen with order and then came back to table.
She said she had been working there a long time and did not know (before that minute) that the restaurant "steams" veggies in salt/sugar water. From what she said, I think the steaming process involves immersion.
I am NOT the slightest bit embarrassed when I order. I do not feel I am the one who is out of line. I think society, in how they prepare food, is out of line. And I am used to dealing with restaurants, where if they have it in the kitchen, will accommodate me. If they want my continued business, they will be happy to do so.
So I asked it is was possible for them to steam with plain water or dry pan fry/grill veggies/chicken for me.
The kitchen decided they had 'clean' broccoli, chicken, mushrooms. And they had a pan they could use. Waitress asked if that was okay. It was.
Oldest asked if that interchange was upsetting. He asked if I was embarrassed or upset by it.
I said no - it was just the learning curve. Now the waitress knows. Now the kitchen knows. Now I know how to communicate/order there.
And my mantra of -
'No sauce, no oil, no butter, no salt, just the actual food, on a dry grill or pan' just had 'no sugar' added to the list.
Husband was dumb founded by the whole thing. He asked WHY would a restaurant cook vegetables in SUGAR? I said - because all they care about is getting people to come back to them. So they are doing whatever they have to do to make their food taste 'special'.
It is no different than the packaged food companies doing all they can to make their product taste like a party in the mouth so people buy more, More, MORE.
We have to look out for our own health and our own waist line. No one in the food industry is going to do it for us.
One of the restaurants with the highest amount of processed, I have seen, in almost every dish on the menu, is a vegetarian restaurant in town. And it is a restaurant where I will NOT eat.
At my (beloved) food coop, I have to be just as cautious about processed food as any grocery store.
I am SOOOOOOOOOO not fooled by things that have a 'healthy' or 'organic' type word on the package. If it comes in a package, I need to be ubber careful in reading the label. If it has multiple ingredients, I have to be very diligent.
If it is cooked by someone else, I have to be just as careful.
