Fresher

My good friend Jeremy used to crack up at this question "um... is the fish fresh?"  What answer do you possibly think the waiter/supermarket fish guy/cook is going to say? "Actually sir, the fish I am about to sell you is five days old (from when we got it) and is starting to turn just a bit, but I have no doubt you will be pleased with its quality."

If every supermarket, sandwich shop, caterer, pizza chain, fast food franchise in the country claims its food is "fresh" and "of the highest quality" who in this great nation is serving the "mediumly aged to old" and "low quality" food?

Fresh is a continuum.  Everyone can call their food Fresh, but who's is Fresher?

At one catering business the mashed potatoes are fresh out of the can.  At another they are freshly made from dehydrated potato flakes.  And another peels the little yukon gold suckers with indentations and blemishes and the cooks occasionally peel their own skin and get their fingers cramped from all the tedious work to make "fresh" mashed potatoes.  Is it all fresh?  Yes.  Is it all honest?  That is the better question, and very much a personal one.

At one fast food place the beef has "non meat fillers".  At another sandwich shop the roast beef out of a vacuum sealed bag, the same they serve at every other sandwich shop in town.  At ours, it is medium rare to medium flank steak cooked every couple of days.  It is all fresh.  Ours is more honest.  (okay, okay... it tastes better too, you dragged it out of me.)

We aren't playing 'holier than thou' (okay, maybe a little).  We put out honest food.  We buy as much as we can from our local farmers and from the farmer's market.  We try to stay as seasonal as possible.  We always want to look ourselves in the mirror and feel like we put out solid, honest, wholesome food and trade it for your hard earned dollars.  It's what we try to do everyday. 

Cheers