Same. I’m terrified of “spring mix.” When I was a teen, I worked at Roy Rogers, and the taste of this
is burned into my brain.
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I mostly order raw tomato dishes during local tomato season.
Most restaurant suppliers supply restaurants in Canada with abysmal greenhouse tomatoes year-round.
The only spectacular tomatoes tend to be served at upscale places that get their tomatoes from local farms, and places that have their own kitchen garden.
The one standout exception in my corner of the world is a local brewery that sends their spent mash to a local beef rancher, who then supplies the brewery with local beef. They make the tastest burger around.
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In the Bay Area you can get decent tomatoes from the supermarket, heirloom and organic but they can be pricey. There’s even Mexican grown organic heirlooms. At produce centric stores like Berkeley Bowl, there’s a dozen plus varieties, including dry farmed. The catch…only in season. Farmers markets are where it’s at, unless you grow your own. I get hothouse tomatoes out of season but only a few times. Some varieties are okay, like camparis. I just wait until it’s the season. A lot of the engineered tomatoes aren’t worth the bother.
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That is really the secret to good tomatoes. We haven’t bought a tomato in probably six or seven years. We only eat those that we grow, so it’s late spring to early fall for us with tomatoes. Fortunately, we live in an area where it’s easy to grow them.
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He says something close to: The question behind this test “Are we being trapped to eating the same mediocre food in restaurants across the country.
#1. No one is being " trapped” into eating mediocre food.
#2. Sysco is the biggest supplier of non food items to kitchens as well. So no reason to jump to a conclusion because you see a truck outside a restaurant.
,
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I will only dine at a restaurant that makes its napkins in house, tyvm.
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Berkeley Bowl West had no heirlooms at all yesterday. I think Monterey Market might still have them (from Mexico).
But what will I wake up angry about?
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Silly people who love Sysco. Okay that’s harsh, I should say apologists.
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If you can’t find something about which to be angry these days, you’re not paying attention!
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TL;DR - Sysco stored perishables like meat and dairy products, without refrigeration for hours at a time in temporary sheds without refrigeration, paid $20 mil fine after exposed. They also has a listeria disaster and scrutiny for labor practices.
But yeah the paper good are a-okay.
We’re in trouble if being current with news and bad corporate behavior is thought to be angry, instead of being informed.
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I can send you my list!
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I’ll look for them. I often get, and like, camparis.
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Sysco sells a pretty wide variety of stuff. Much of it, like bottled salad dressings, will appeal to a restaurant that just wants to offer some salad choices. They also sell some EVOO, Dijon mustard, and wine vinegars, enough that a restaurant that is picky enough to make its own vinaigrette can use Sysco. They generally do not offer higher end choices. If a restaurant insists on making its vinaigrette with a particular Tuscan oil, Fallot Dijon, and La Guinelle Banyuls red, they need to look elsewhere. You can usually make delicious food using Sysco’s products, but the selection narrows very quickly as you get better ingredients. High end kitchens live and die on very specific sources, lots of them. This is one of the many reasons they must charge more. Having a person who manages orders from literally dozens of sources is a lot more work than a Sysco punch list. In my opinion for everything below high end, Sysco makes ok stuff that can lead to pretty good meals. What the kitchen does with it, however, is quite variable. There is no substitute for well trained cooks who really care and are supported above (manager, who is also probably the buyer) and below (especially prep work).
And YES, any big, or small, food supplier can engage in unethical, negligent, flat out evil practices.
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I do buy Campari tomatoes from the grocery store, year round. But I avoid all those loose tomatoes.
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I’ll give those a shot again. While I’ve found the flavor (and umami) bombs to be the most reliable when it comes to flavor, they are on the smaller side.
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I believe he was being a tad hyperbolic when he used the term “trapped.” I sort of agree that no one is actually “trapped.” Although, I think low socioeconomic families and the working class are more impacted by Sysco’s control of the market. The family that looks forward to going to Chili’s or the little rural burger joint a couple times a month are the people that are most likely to feel “trapped.”
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Indeed. As an another example, there’s the unfortunate story of Belcampo Meats. They’re essentially the direct opposite of Sysco, but clearly not immune to the worst of capitalism.
And, for whatever it’s worth, Sysco is one of the sponsors of the Sacramento Jewish Food Faire.
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Belcampo’s fraud put them out of business. Sysco has a large corporate legal department and paid the $20 mil fine that would have sunk just about anyone else. it’s nice they’re profitable enough to sponsor community events. BTW, the non-refrig storage containers or “drop off points” (their term) was a national thing, so it was calculated. Given they supply schools, hospitals and the like…regular shitty behavior. This is an issue when a company get too large and too big to fail.
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