“I’d call him a sadistic, hippophilic necrophile, but that would be beating a dead horse.” ― Woody Allen

Aromatic – having a pleasant and distinctive smell

– fragrant or sweet smelling.

It seems to be that any food with a very distinctive smell is the best way to distinguish what is aromatic. For example, pickles have a very distinctive smell. No other food smells similar, however pickles are pleasant to many. Other types of aromatic foods could be spices, due to their sharp, distinct potence.

Made-from-scratch – a meal that is made solely from raw materials; no store-brought bread, pre-made packages, or previously added spices; each ingredient is added by the cook.

A great example of a food made from scratch is home made yogurt. Many people buy small, or large tubs of yogurt from the supermarket or general store. However, you can make yogurt it your home with the simplest ingredients: water and milk.

Bread would be another great example because most people buy store bought bread, when you can make it from flour, water, butter, sugar, and yeast.

Country-style – associated with rural areas, typically in “the south,” or southern United States. (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina)

There are a number of different ways to make country style potatoes. Any way where you deep fry the potatoes, or change it up from the regular mashed potato,  french frie, or aluminum cooked could be considered a country style potato.

Burnt – cooked or heated so much to the point of blackening a food

Many foods can be burnt and still taste good, or even better depending on the person. I had burnt pizza the other day, where some of the crust and cheese were black instead of brown/yellow. Another food many people eat burnt is toast. Some people just like it black!

Doughy – not quite cooked to the perfect setting; left a wee bit un-cooked. Typically a way to describe bread, or foods with bread.

My personal favorite food always comes a little doughy. Pizza is another great example of food that could be described doughy, when it is not quite cooked all the way. You can taste the dough and the flower almost when eating doughy pizza or bread.

Famous – utterly well known and talked about frequently over a wide spread area, or over the globe.

– a famous dish could come from a restaurant, family home, state, or nation

Tiramisu is an italian dessert. Many people now serve tiramisu around the world because it is famous, even though it started in Italy.

Epicurean – luxurious and/or pleasurable

Tiramisu from a rather expensive restaurant would be considered epicurean. At a restaurant in Paris the service is good, the atmosphere is great, and the presentation is excellent. Oh, and the taste!

Get Out of Your Appartment

When you’re in Mexico it’s important to be polite, and eat tacos with your hands: not with a fork and knife. In Russia, it is rude to chase vodka. Only tourists eat bread before their meal in France, and sipping your wine in Georgia is unacceptable. All across the world different cultures have diverse table manners.

I guess what I’m trying to say is… experience different food cultures. But I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage exploration right outside your doorstep. The best times I have had when learning about food, learning about writing, and writing about food have been times when I was willing to leave the coziness of my dormitory to talk to people in the food business.

From my essay on avocado’s, you can see I went to Chipotle. One part I left out about that was when I talked to one of the guys who worked there, named CJ.CJ had been working at Chipotle for only about four months, but his experience was valuable to me.

After we both saw one guy very upset about the price of guacamole, I went up to talk to CJ about what happened. “I’ve been working here for four months and that’s the second guy to have a big reaction like that,” he said. “Most people still say yes but if they don’t I can understand where they’re coming from.”

This was crucial to my project. Forty minutes isn’t enough to see if a regular amount of people freak out about the price of avocado! I was able to see that they don’t, and infer that this was because people are just that willing to pay almost two dollars for guacamole.

I also learned another standpoint of the food industry. When people are dooping us, they know it, and we know it, yet we still accept this price discrimination for both of our best interests.

I had a lot of fun going and speaking with CJ, and I hope to see the manager in Jalepenos later in the future because I think it would be fun to talk to him. My findings were not just academic, but also for my own personal reasons.

Because I wrote about something I love, I get to benefit from that even more every time I go to Chipotle. I get to see my new homie CJ and catch up with him, not to mention that occasional free guacamole 🙂