Celebrity Chef Ted Allen Cooks His Favorite Pretentious Foodie Bulls**t Meal

[FrodosPet]

[Warpy]

1. Have you been watching Supersizers?

One featured a time when people did eat things like smoked larks' tongues. Most episodes feature the stars getting completely hammered and dehydrated at the same time because people drank safe alcohol rather than risky water. Peasants did better, getting a lot of their fluids through gruel, soups and stews.

This was one of the worst diets they were subjected to. All old seasons are on You Tube. Newer episodes are blocked in the US unless you use a service to get around it.

The 70s and 80s made me cringe, even though I never had the money for nouvelle cuisine. I do remember laughing a lot at rich people paying hundreds of dollars for one scallop, four dots of some sort of sauce, and an artfully placed chive tip, the other five courses about the same. In the 70s I remember suburbanites serving piped pink paste on Ritz crackers and thinking that made them elegant.

[malthaussen]

3. Couldn't agree more.

I used to eat out quite frequently in that era, and I was always disgusted at what passed for the latest food fad. I tried to find more traditional restaurants so I could actually, you know, eat.

OTOH, in 1990 I had the opportunity to eat at a true 3-star in London, and the meal was worth every bit of the inflated price. Souffle Suisse Michel Roux, how I love thee...

-- Mal

[MADem]

4. One of the most delicious meals I ever had was in Zurich. Didn't agree w/me, though.

I had just flown from Tehran, and my gut was accustomed to that environment.

I had chateaubriand in one of the fanciest restaurants in Zurich.

It tasted great but it went through me like crap through a goose!

[Warpy]

5. In my case, it was a very fancy French place in Quebec City

and remains one of the best meals of my life, better than any trendy place in Boston.

The older I get, the less patience I have with over engineered food and the more I fall into the "excellent ingredients, prepared simply, allowed to star as themselves" camp.

I've never eaten out that frequently. I usually prefer my own cooking and most of the places I favor are ethnic cuisines. All the best ethnic restaurants in town are in my area, so it's working out really well.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Indeed, you can not walk a commercial street of Quebec City without falling into a fabulous eatery.

[Warpy]

8. It was my first experience with truffles and service a la Russe

I loved the former, was not particularly thrilled with the latter. I'm a peasant, I prefer service a la Francaise.

It was glorious, though. I have nearly duplicated it but there is always one ingredient or other I haven't been able to get. It wasn't difficult, just not US.

[Mojorabbit]

6. Thank you!

I had not heard of this series and it is delightful!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. I know people like this.