The taste buds want what they want.
I donāt think itās elitist to favor eating at local restaurants where you actually eat some chefs menu or the local pizza shop or greasy spoon. You are supporting a person or small business over a soulless corporate chain restaurant who ships 90% of their food in on a Sysco truck to be reheated in an industrial microwave in the ākitchenā.
And just to be clear I am not shitting on working there. I too was once a server. There absolutely is nothing wrong with that and we all do what we have to do.
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Call me elitist I guess. I wonāt eat in the corporate establishments. I can cook better than that at home so I have no reason to spend more money for worse food.
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I donāt think that is elitist. I think it makes sense. The main reason my wife and I go out is mostly to eat food we canāt cook as well at home. So mostly ethinic food, sushi, etc. Sometimes we also just go out to wind down and have some drinks w/bar food also. Iāll never understand going to Applebeeās and pounding in some $15 select steak reheated by a teen in back when you could buy a prime steak for that and prepare it however you would like.
The people who really drive me nuts are people like my parents who travel all over and then eat at the same chains they have at home. I guess it feels risky to them to try something they arenāt sure about. When I tell them my #1 favorite thing about traveling all over the world is eating all of the local food, drinking the local wine/beverage of choice they look at me like I am crazy. When I tell them some of it is at markets or from street vendors they always lecture me on how unsafe it is. Unsafe is part of the fun though. Not that we donāt eat at some nice restaurants also but get a Hep A shot and eat that mystery meat you will likely be fine. Anthony Bourdain had it right when he basically said to try everything and throw away stuff that is bad.
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Yeah a giant +1000 to āwhy in the fuck would you eat at a chain restaurant in the US in 2020ā argument. The only chain restaurants that are even competitive for your business are the fast food drive through places who compete primarily on convenience. And in good food cities they usually lose that as well.
The big national dine in chains have lost the supply chain advantage that made them crush for the first few decades of their existence. A few of them will do fine (Iām looking at you Pappadeux, Texas Roadhouse, and Chic Fil A) but a lot of them wonāt.
Yeah, same. When I lived in NYC, I was walking in Manhattan once and overheard the cookie cutter midwestern family of four asking for directions to Applebees. I was shaking my head for like the next three blocks. Ever since then whenever Iām in a great culinary city and drive past a chain, I am reminded of it.
Heās probably the celebrity that had the most impact on my life, honestly. I moved in with two roommates in NYC who watched his show all the time, so I got into it. I went from an extremely picky, risk-averse eater (like my parents) to extremely adventurous. Iām not quite at try absolutely anything, but Iāve tried duck testacles in an Egyptian casserole at a hole in the wall place Bourdain went to - so Iām pretty far along the scale of what Iāll try. I was genuinely quite upset when he died, and usually celebrity deaths donāt move me that much.
There was some level of, āHoly shit, he was really truly living āthe life,ā I canāt believe he wasnāt happy or ran out of hope.ā I know anyone can be depressed for any number of reasons (or none at all), but it was hard to really think about how he always had new travels to look forward to and still felt hopeless. Intellectually I understand thatās not how depression works, but at a very basic level it still shook me.
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Chain restaurants are such a weirdly American thing. Thereās fast food everywhere of course, but when it comes to things like Applebeeās, Arbyās, Red Lobster etc etc, there are no national chains like that I can think of here. Thereās Grillād I guess, itās a burger joint that people eat in at more frequently than other burger joints and itās typically liquor licensed (which fast food places are not). Thatās all I got.
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Anthony Bourdain had a huge impact on my travel and culinary life. His show and attitude really taught me that just about everywhere is pretty awesome in itās own way if you are willing to open your eyes a bit. And his takes on eating everything with an open mind and then deciding if you like it or not is absolutely the best attitude to have.
When he died I was stunned and it affected me as well. He was only human and had gone through a divorce and a subsequent tumultuous relationship. The last thing I think he actually filmed that aired before he died was this weird mini show sponsored by a car company. He drove around in their car with another guy. You can tell he is depressed as hell. He opines on how he personally has made the world a worse place (I disagree with him) because he has contributed to more tourists overrunning some of these lesser traveled to spots and subsequently turning it into an Airbnb hellscape the locals canāt afford anymore. Like all of us I think he lacked perspective on just how many peoples lives, like you and I, he appreciably made better.
ETA- Here is the link to what I am referencing. It looks like it was actually filmed 8 months or so before his death so I was likely wrong about the timing but I thought he was far more open about his general dissatisfaction in this than anything else:
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I travelled for 4 months at one point and didnāt stay in any one place for more than like 4 or 5 days. I can confirm that novelty itself becomes tiresome after a while. That sense of dissatisfaction which is a hallmark of the human condition returns, novelty is not a way of cheating that system.
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We have all the same places in Canada (or at least very similar knockoffs).
One trend Iāve noticed is that these places are few and far between in city neighborhoods but are ubiquitous in suburbs and off of interstates. So part of their popularity seems to have something to do with suburban culture. Theyāre certainly consistent with suburban culture - bland, soulless facsimiles of restaurants for people that live in bland, soulless facsimiles of communities.
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Not to the extent of the US, and I left some time ago so could be wrong, but my impression is theyāre becoming very very common in the UK these days.
My first trip to the UK I got some very bad advice from a cab driver about going to Wetherspoons. Once I got in there and realized it was basically the British version of Applebeeās I got a good laugh out of it. He must have assumed that is what I was after because I was American. At least it was very cheap. Maybe I have this wrong but all of the best restaurants I have been to in the UK are Indian restaurants.
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Whenever I go back then thatās what I always want to eat.
(Well, along with a proper northern chippy but I wonāt pretend thatās anything other than my upbringing.)
+1 for Anthony Bourdain changing my life. Iāll never forget the day he died. He had such a profound impact on my desire to travel, meet people, eat, drink, and be jolly. Canāt wait for the day I get to do that again.
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You donāt have Outback Steakhouses everywhere? Weird. You guys invented the Bloominā Onion.
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Yeah I got tired of it to some degree on my trip. But about 6 months after coming back to my life in LA, I realized it the road was still better.
Thereās something to be said for seeing a place slowly. I want to see as much of the world as I can that way.
What does this mean? I have spent a few extended stays in NYC for work (5 weeks and 6 weeks) and I definitely got a lot more out it than on the several 3 or 4 night stays Iāve done. Is that what you are referring to?
Yeah I guess so. For me it meant spending over 2 months in Mexico and 4 months in Central America - just moving on from place to place whenever I felt like it. Although in retrospect I could have easily spent twice as long.
What I donāt want is to try to see a place like Australia in 2 weeks or even a month. I donāt want to just blow through and hit the tourist highlights. I want to wander around.
Thereās a travel writer I follow Rolf Potts who has a great line, āYou never really get to know a place until you have enough time to be bored in it.ā Then he goes on to talk about how boredom is good because it inspires you to go out and have experiences and find things off the beaten path.
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As someone with a history of suicidal ideation I can tell you that having the trappings of a good life on the outside made me feel worse. I had all these things that I knew full well were supposed to be the marks of a successful life and Iād never felt lower. I thought that if I just arranged everything around myself just so then Iād be happy. When I had everything I thought I wanted but still didnāt feel better it was pretty obvious that the problem was me. I didnāt think that my internal situation was changeable at all (honestly I couldnāt even conceive of that possibility), so I was pretty sure I was stuck. I donāt know much about Bourdain, was he also an alcoholic/addict?
Of course I had it 100% wrong, but thatās how it felt at the time. Now I understand that pretty much the only thing I can hope to change is me.
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Bourdain did a ton of drugs when he was younger including a bad run with heroin. He made it seem like he had it licked and he only drank for the show.
He was clinically depressed for sure. Whether or not the past drug use somehow contributed to that who knows.
If you watch the Argentina Parts Unknown episode - he goes to see a shrink, because supposedly thatās what everyone does in Argentina. Itās very dark. He basically says any little thing can send him into a multi-day spiral, and the his dream job doesnāt bring him any joy.
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