I know you've all been wondering, "oh great, they ran out of ideas again. No posts for 2 weeks!" Well, I've been on vacation, so there. And on vacation, I've come to the realization - well, I already had the realization - let's say my realization was enforced about the establishments where people eat. It seems people can't live without their "familiar" food.
During my vacation, much time was spent driving on the highways of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. And as anyone who has done a lot of driving knows, you can't drive on a highway without at some point running into "standbys" such as your Kentucky Fried Chicken, your Arby's, your McDonald's. After all, who wants to be driving in some unfamiliar part of America and not know where to stop and eat?
Alton Brown proved in his miniseries Feasting on Asphalt that a lot of the best "road food" is off the beaten path, on the lesser-known, lesser-traveled roads in the U.S. If these places existed on the major highways, people would probably drive right on by - even though the food is likely superior in these places. The same is probably true for other areas in the world - I know my parents loved driving around in France looking for smaller establishments that were kind of out-of-the-way.
People love familiarity. New things most of the time frighten people in general, even when it comes to food. Take a local event, Taste Addison, for instance. The purpose of this event is to gather all sorts of local restaurants - many of them "upscale" - and have them sell some of their dishes in booths. That way, food that you wouldn't normally have the chance to sample is freely available. Offbeat items like fish tacos, sushi - these were some of the things being offered. And yet, walk around, and you'll see people eating nachos, and slices of pizza from Pizza Inn - items that are readily available just about anywhere else. It's baffling to me - you come to an event that offers new, and sometimes exotic foods - and you get nachos. Bizarre.
But "bizarre" doesn't describe what I saw at Mount Vernon - "tacky" is probably the word I am looking for. Here we are, Mount Vernon, home to our first president, George Washington. Now, you come to expect that there's going to be a tacky gift shop. That's a given for just about any historical area. It was the food offerings that I found tacky. My mom and I had lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn. We had rosemary chicken, Virginia peanut stuffing, vegetables, cornbread, and apple cider. It was good. But most people were eating over at the food court. Take this excerpt from the brochure: "The Food Court offers a quick and delicious variety of fresh pastries, gourmet burgers and fries, deli sandwiches and salads,
Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza, Mrs. Field's Original Cookies, and ice cream."
Yes, Pizza Hut. To come to the lovely estate of George Washington and to dine on pizza. Yes, because it's well known that Pizza Hut was a favorite of George Washington. He was the first to get Pizza Hut delivered to his door, issuing the famous order "I hereby ordereth a large pizza with mutton and tomatoes." This famous order began the formation of the First Pizza Delivery Regiment of Virginia, well-known for their bravery and one hour guarantee.
Please, folks - when visiting someplace new, driving on the highway, or attending an event - order something different when you eat. A little inconformity never hurt anyone.
