What Makes Good Food Good

What Makes Good Food Good ? ©

By

Michael Casey

I grew up next to Off ye Goes, which is a phrase Bruce Forsyth used to use to. The old lady used to say Off ye Go when we left the shop. It was a sweet shop as far as we were concerned but it was also a bakery. A small man forever in a white coat lived there with his wife and her sister who was much taller and seemed much fiercer. I think one of ten must have lived till they were 100. I know this because I spotted one of them in a bakery by my own house 30 years later. When she left I told the baker she was highly praised, because the little old lady came to her shop for the bread.

My wife went to a Tapas bar in our Jewelry Quarter today, very very nice place and the food was great. I told her I spent a week in a Tapas bar in Barcelona back in 1999, luckily I had relearnt my Spanish by 15 mins a day practice every day for 3 months prior to my trip. The Spanish book is in the bookcase behind me. It was the book I had at grammar school. And my wife cannot speak Spanish I told her, she can speak Chinese. I was going to remind her I speak French too, but she just gave me an inscrutable look, Shanghai girls do that you know.

So that brings us to food. What makes food great? The taste obviously. I worked at CPNEC Birmingham 2002 to 2005 and the food was always great. Chefs really do know their onions and knives, so never needle a chef. When you taste haut cuisine for the first time it really is something. Nice food really does melt on the tongue. And they really do beat their meat so that when you taste it you are in Heaven.

The decor there was really nice with a view over the lake, so what more do you want? When you go out somewhere else the food has to be great too, or else why bother. If you are visiting a burger and chips place just rub your finger on the table, and if your finger is greasy just get up and walk out. Yes one nameless place I visited really was that bad. Also watch the staff and their personal hygiene, do they wipe their nose and then serve you? I know this sounds ridiculous in today’s Customer Service world. But basic things matter. I was in a very high end place once, abroad, and the place stunk because of the drains. Obviously we did not eat there. To be honest I could not have afforded to either.

So the menu is nice and its printed on nice paper, so what else matters? It’s the atmosphere, and I don’t mean has the waiter got too  much Brut on, or has the girl got really cheap and nasty overpowering perfume on. I mean do you feel welcomed, do they give you a nod when you arrive before coming with a menu once you have settled into you seats. Your local kebab shop guy always says hello and smiles so if you are going to a fancy place they should be even more welcoming.

If there is music it should not overpower the conversation, you are not going to a disco, nor your local kebab shop. You may be asking the girl to marry you.Or you are doing a business you need to be able to discuss calmly while you have your business lunch. Now all this compliments the food. The venue and the atmosphere really add or subtract from the food. If the food is thrown down on paper plates no matter how good the food is you won’t like it as much as if it is on proper uncracked plates. You can get really fancy plates if you are lucky enough to be taken to a fancy place. Then the rest of performance as food is delivered to your table. And it is a performance, Sawgrass Mills Florida was really nice and it was a performance when we were there 10 years and more.

The food has to be delivered on time and hot, with no delays in between courses, sometime the waiter will forget, or the chef will burn your sea bass. So hopefully your Host who is treating you has plenty of conversation to fill the gaps should the need arise. As the food is so good, you may forgive some errors depending on where you are. But best of all when food and the drink is so good and the conversation with tour Host or family is of such a high order time flies. And the waiter gets a really good tip.

Good food and nice conversation in a great place is worth the extra pennies, because you’ll have a full belly and a head full of happy memories. Or you could just go to Subway, and why not?

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