BS: Without takeaways people will starve

Subject: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Kampervan
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 03:08 AM

So, here in sunny Faversham, Domino Pizzas have been given permission to open a new outlet. This was despite fierce local opposition from residents and the town council.

At the borough council meeting to discuss the application, just before voting in favour of Dominos, a councillor from Sheppey is quoted as saying that ' Nobody knows how to cook these days, and without takeaways people will starve".

This is a councillor from the local authority which has one of the highest rates of obesity in the U.K.

You couldn't make it up, could you!!

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 04:01 AM

I wonder if the councillor cooks, or is cooked for, or eats takeaway!

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: gnomad
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 05:02 AM

To starve can be an extended business, even a lifelong condition, although it is most commonly used to mean a fatal process. Whichever the councillor meant, I feel that (s)he drew a wrong conclusion.

In the unlikely event of this being tested by experiment, one could argue that any fatalities should be viewed as proof that Darwin talked good sense. In England anyone daft enough to die or go seriously hungry for lack of a takeaway outlet is unfit to be allowed out alone.

If the locals' opposition bears fruit then the life of this takeaway will be a short one (Darwin again) but I suspect there is a lot less practical opposition than may at first appear. The application did, after all, survive the democratic process.

The councillor made a good point that many in this country do not know how to cook, but takeaways rather than educating seems a misguided approach to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 06:20 AM

I must admit I am a Regular 'Takeaway' indulger - Had fish and chips at Rochester when I left home at 1630 to get to the Good Intent last week , and ALSO had Fish and chips on the Friday at W H F F last August too !

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 06:33 AM

Weather the comment was sarcastic or an explanation of the approval matters not to me. Was the application for a zoning exception?... such as allowing a business to operate in a zone dedicated to residential use. Or was it simply that people did not want a pizza parlour?

Of course, that's if one considers Dominos pizza. I ate at one here in Moncton, NB, CAN years ago and my reaction was, "What the hell did they put in that?". It tasted like... hmmm... "not food".

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 10:38 AM

Looks like we've had a bad spell of whether...

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 11:24 AM

I worked for Domino's Pizza when it was still a small, regional chain (Michigan, to be precise--the center of the fast food pizza universe). and I can tell you why it has spread across the world like Zebra mussels.

It's cheap and easy to make, people like it and they will pay a lot for it. Also, when you do it the Domino's way, at least, there is no waste--most restaurants throw a lot of food away, but they don't. That cuts the cost of doing business a lot.

Also, you don't need a trained chef, or even competent short order cook to make a pizza. You can teach a teenager how to do it in about ten minutes. Also, you can't really make the same pizza at home, because the pizza oven bakes at up to 900°F.

Best of all, they bring pizza to your house, so all you have to do is call and have them put it on your credit card.

Basically, it's a profit-driven juggernaut. Abandon hope...

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,SPB At Work
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 11:39 AM

If I was to eat too many takeways, I would starve, I can eat much better and cheaper when I cook at home! Dunno if this is a bit off topic, but this week I have noticed in one town centre near me there are 3 Starbucks, 3 Costas and 2 Neros more or less just round the corner from each other!

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 01:23 PM

Domino's pizza is gross. As is Pizza Hut's. Chains catering to the lowest common denominator.

As with all food, you can train anyone to make fast food for the masses but a decent product takes both skill and passion. Stick to your local guy.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Maryrrf
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 01:35 PM

This seems to be an increasingly common situation - people "don't know" how to cook. I started cooking at the age of 10 and while it seemed like a chore at the time (I was expected to have dinner on the table when my parents got home from work)I'm really glad I became comfortable and competent in the kitchen. Maybe the old Home Economics classes weren't a bad idea. That's better than relying on fast food and takeout as an every day solution.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 01:58 PM

"Stick to your local guy."

I ate Vito's pizza, lasagna, etc since opening day 40 odd years ago. A couple of years ago, his nephew took over management. I still buy the lasagna... at Costco on accounta he knows he can't sell an inferior product to them.

Here, we have Pizza Delight (they have restaurants at all locations as well), Grecco (pretty close clone of Pizza Delight, started by the same guy after he was bought out - sells Donair Meat internationally) and now Sal's take out about two spits from me. Sal's is VERY good for take out pizza.

"As is Pizza Hut." As is? I actually speed up when I drive by Pizza Hut. That s... stuff isn't food.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 04:53 PM

Vito's sounds like the real deal. The family type places are the best. I'd love some good lasagna right about now. After I worked at Domino's, I couldn"t eat pizza for ten or fifteen years. Not pizza, whatever it is... a hot cardboard box and tomato sauce...

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 22 Feb 13 - 08:40 PM

I agree about family restaurants being the best. They are often most in need of people's support, and if supported more likely to stay open. Those franchise places close down quickly if they don't do "well enough."

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: MBSLynne
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 02:04 PM

Take aways are a very occasional treat for us..maybe once or twice a year. How can people possibly afford to eat them regularly?

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 02:30 PM

""I wonder if the councillor cooks, or is cooked for, or eats takeaway!""

I wonder if his bank balance is suddenly larger, or whether there's one more shoe box under his bed?

It strikes me that he probably eats in restaurants, expensive ones.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 03:45 PM

MBSLynne--I'm with you. I know a lot who do it, thought. Some people make enough money that they don't   think too much about how they spend it(at least not until after it's all gone). Others just toss it onto the credit card and worry about it later, when it part of a larger debt.

Often, people are rushed, and don't take the time to plan and prepare meals, and even people who cook quite well save it for the weekends or for company. It's not just a money problem, fast food, carry-out(which you call takeaway), and chain-restaurant food has a notoriously high fat content(because fat can give taste to the tasteless), so it really is bad for you.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 05:20 PM

With such a variety of fish available who needs takeaways. We enjoyed
mahi-mahi or common dolphinfish this evening for instance, last night we had salmon and tomorrow most likely it will be sea bass.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 06:30 PM

Speaking of fast food, fish -- properly cooked -- is faster than a Harvey's hamburger. Small pat of butter on a hot pan, drop in yer fillet, grind o pepper, flip it over, more pepper, done. Five minutes, from newspaper to plate.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Rumncoke
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 06:31 PM

I tasted a Dominoes pizza once - it was rather nasty.

I used to do storage testing for Allied Lyons and my sense of taste is quite acute, I was banned from giving opinions on cross contamination from printing inks at a cardboard box factory because I could not only pick up the taint I could tell which colour it was - probably - the solvents were different.

I could smell and taste mutton in beef long before the BSE crisis, but never realised why. It stopped me buying it.

The pizza topping tasted decidedly old - even though it was freshly cooked. Thank goodness it was baked at high temperatures, it probably sterilized the topping - sometimes food really should be thrown away.

I can't drink Starbucks coffee - I tasted that once, the beans were burnt.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 23 Feb 13 - 10:11 PM

Rumcoke, just so you know, the Starbuck's Beans are like that on purpose. it seems to enhance the shelf life. As to the pizza toppings, from my recollection, they come sliced and ready to throw on the pizza in a large plastic bag. They have likely been generously dowsed with preservatives so as to retain the "fresh" look. The fact that they had any taste at all is a surprise to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 06:46 AM

I, too, have a very acute sense of taste. I dislike coffee served in paper cups because it tastes of the paper cup; when it's Starbucks' coffee, the burnt-beans taste and the paper taste between them destroy all pleasure unless the brew is doused with sugar, cream and flavourings -- which are mostly fake, so not very nice either.

It's enough to make this Canadian go to Tim's, where the bad coffee is at least cheap.

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Musket sans cookie
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 07:32 AM

Bonzo, how can you be certain your fish dish didn't contain sea horse?

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Backwoodsman
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 12:48 PM

"It's enough to make this Canadian go to Tim's, where the bad coffee is at least cheap"

Their Boston Cream Doughnuts make up for the coffee though! Saw me right round BC last summer! :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: GUEST,Backwoodman
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 12:52 PM

And their oatmeal with berries was rather nice too - made a nice change from monster skillets first thing before hitting the road! :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Without takeaways people will starve
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 01:20 PM

how can you be certain your fish dish didn't contain sea horse


I couldn't possibly comment!!

Marlin for dinner tonight.