On 2006-11-22 23:39:36 -0800, "RichAsianKid" > said:

> A few random thoughts here.

Surely you can't get any more random.

> First there is presentation. When you start deliberately mixing food
> together on the table - haha how can you call it an 'art' with
> those bibimbap or something, in a charred stone bowl or all that lo
> mein on a sizzling plate?

I thought you were going to talk about presentation. "Bibimbap or
something" is not vastly unike many other dishes and can be presented
almost anyway one likes. Traditionally Korean food is presented
traditionally, a stone bowl certainly has an aesthetic value. A
sizzling plate potentially has much more presentational value that a
round white disk.

> One of the hallmarks of haute cuisine...

Not all food is or purportes to be haute cuisine. It is not good while
all else is bad. Most Japanese food is not Haute cuisine either.

> Décor of the restaurant is another issue and is peripheral to this
> subject of presentation. Even a middle class Japanese restaurant (at
> least in North America) is quiet - meaning you can hear what your
> neighbors are saying...

That's not true. Except the "peripheral" part. This is dull fallacy.
Japanese restaurants are quiet and Chinese and Koreans are loud?
Completely false. You should get out more. It would be easier to say
that Japanese are good and Chinese are bad and let it go at that. It
would have all the "random thought" value you could give it: none.

> ...and at times you feel like you've entered a monastery or Shinto
> temple inadvertently where you start your life journey and engage in
> some epic meditation...

Try to get a grip man. We're purportedly talking about food, remember?
What the hell restaurant/shrine are you talking about?

> "Authentic" Chinese restaurants - even the so called more expensive
> ones are like a flea markets or a public high school cafeterias...

Imagine how much more you might dislike them if you had actually visited one!

> The use of ingredients is important. Eggs or bean sprouts may be valid
> ingredients but they are very cheap...

I guess rice gruel loaded with gold leaf would be good then?

> It's not so common in North America but I think in mainland China
> people are so poor they eat tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and tofu as their
> main dinner dish day after day, night after night! Whoa!!

Whoa is right! I think you're thinking has some major gaps in it. It's
more like "crippled" I suppose.

> I think 'high class' cuisine often seeks to preserve freshness and the
> true, 'original' flavor of the food with a minimal amount of
> seasoning...

I guess we're going to dump Italian, French and Indian foods as "high
class", then? And also, do you really believe the entire world is
either eating "high class" food or crap? Are those really the only two
options?

> Another sign is quality vs quantity. Chinese buffets now abound in
> North America - because they are cheap - and Chinese buffets love to
> emphasize quantity at the expense of quality. They are geared towards
> 300 lb trailer wives and inner city single moms and new southeast Asian
> immigrants probably. Higher class restaurants emphasize more on
> preparation and not on quantity, and the end product is presented
> perhaps as a psychological mechanism - product being food is so much
> smaller than the plate, and are 'vertically stacked' rather than a
> 'horizontal mess'.

What you've said is that expensive restaurants focus on different
thinngs than inexpensive restaurants. That's pretty amazing logic.
It's true that Chinese-American families (and Vietnamese-American),
frequently dining in larger groups, have a different approach to cost
and dining style than sushi-bars. Is that some kind of major satori
for you? Do your mental "difficulties" always have you comparing
apples to oranges, or only on this topic?

I can't imagine the level of mental problems you must have to provide
such a large pile of faux logic to provide your anti-Chinese bias.

> Also, practically, when was the last time at a quiet, sedate wine 'n'
> cheese inbred soirees or business meetings that they serve Chinese
> food? Never! Never! Never!

Quite a number of times. And I've never had a wine 'n' chese inbred
soiree with Japanese food. So what does that mean? Only that Chinese
food is probably easier to cater than Japanese. Does that make
Japanese gooder?

> These just do not have the same cachet at upper middle class or upper
> class/educated functions - it's like wearing a tracksuit to a wedding.
> Japanese is however increasingly served in these functions, and in fact
> I think it adds a touch of cosmopolitanism to an otherwise dull mélange
> of French and Italian.

How much cache is there in the same bullshit rubber chicken and boiled
vegetables, because that's what I usually get for dinner in what of
these soirees. Does that make it good?

> Here is another practical reason. We now know how beneficial omega-3
> acids are to health. These are found in cold-water fish amongst other
> food items. Fish - sushi, sashimi - is one of the main staples of
> Japanese diet. And the Japanese have one of the world's longest life
> expectancy at ~81 years, last time I checked.

And one of the higher rates of suicide. So I guess the omega-3 acids
must be the reason why. Your bullshit approach to science is almost as
bad as your bullshit approach to aesthetics.

> So why is all this important?

Because you have mental problems and this is your only opportunity to
foist them on others?

> Food is like sex.

Oh-oh. I think you need to get a bona fide counseler and work through
this topic with them.

> Yeah yeah I know, "de gustibus non est disputandum", i.e. taste is not
> disputable. But in this mano a mano comparison between Japanese and
> Chinese/Korean cuisine, I say the Japanese won hands down.

It would be better if you you used this "pene en mano" argument at the
beginning and decided to forego supporting information. Because you
haven't provided much of the later.

> Postscript: two other objective data points.

Really objective?

> 1. Price. Unless they're Chinese or Korean owned, Japanese restaurants
> in general charge a premium for their food and services.

And the supporting objective data? When you've said Japanese I assume
you mean, throughout, sushi restaurants. Japanese roll-and-bowl joints
don't charge a premium. And what does "charging a premium" say about
the food? Nothing. Why don't we throw Cartier in there, since you're
really not talking about food-related considerations.

> 2. Yes you can get real sick from Chinese food. It's called the Chinese
> Restaurant Syndrome.

You can get real sick from any food poorly prepared. Fugu has it's
liabilities, a few die from it each year. Salmonilla and e. coli are
known in all dining places that serve meat. I don't think msg poisoning
is an actual killer.

> A food additive called monosodium glutamate (MSG) has been implicated,
> but it has not been proved to be the agent that causes this condition."

If it has not proven to be the agent, why are you citing it?

> Make no mistake: Chinese food is very much like porn.

I'll assume you have enough background in the later to begin the
comparison, but I'm not sure you have enough "focus" on the former for
it to make any sense.


-- What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in.