The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: Wretched Excess on January 15, 2008, 09:43:17 AM
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Pelosi pushes gourmet menu
The processed cheese has been replaced with brie. The Jell-O has made way for raspberry kiwi tarts and mini-lemon blueberry trifles. Meatloaf has moved over for mahi mahi and buns have been shunted aside in favor of baguettes.
A revolution is afoot at the deli counters, grills and salad bars of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Newly ascendant Democrats may have hit roadblocks on Iraq and fiscal issues, but they have revamped congressional menus, replacing fatty, pre-made foods with healthier, gourmet alternatives. The once dreary congressional cafeterias now abound with haute cuisine.
The menu transformation is part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Greening the Capitol†plan to make the House campus more environmentally friendly and socially progressive.
But there can be a downside to delicious. Not everyone is happy with the enhanced offerings. Many congressional employees have complained that as the food quality has increased, so have the prices.
“It’s a big jump from high school cafeteria to fancy-pants gourmet. I just wish my pay improved,†said Caryn Schenewerk, a staffer for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
A fruit and cheese side dish with two small wedges of brie and cheddar, six grapes, two saltines and one strawberry cost $4.95, for example.
House officials explained that the fresher and more varied foods were indeed more expensive but that they had tried to preserve low-cost alternatives such as pizza, sandwiches and prepared salads, which remain around the same price.
Higher prices weren’t the only complaints.
Perhaps it was inevitable that any major change orchestrated by the Democrats, be it legislation or legumes, would draw Republican fire.
One House Republican aide lobbed attacks at the Democrats over e-mail.
“I really don’t like Nanny Nancy telling me what I can and cannot eat for lunch. If I want to eat unhealthy, I should have that choice!†the aide fumed.
Republican aides have raised questions about why the cafeterias now stock Stonyfield Farm yogurt, speculating that the move would line the pockets of the company’s CEO, Gary Hirshberg, a significant player in Democratic politics.
That assertion is nonsense, said Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the chief administrative officer, the House official who oversees the cafeterias. He said the new food vendor, Restaurant Associates, selected the yogurt producer based on price, quality and consumer satisfaction.
“The idea that the CAO employs a political litmus test on the hundreds of food items in the cafeterias is nothing short of absurd,†Ventura said.
Several calls to Restaurant Associates’ spokeswoman Gina Zimmer were not returned.
Grumbling aside, the menu choices now available present a whole new world of congressional culinary adventures.
There is pan-roasted Chesapeake rockfish with sweet potato fennel hash and yellow pepper relish. Pears with Stilton cheese and watercress. Cumin-scented leg of lamb with almond couscous. There are vegetables with funny names, like bok choy, arugula and jicama. There are baked goods with Italian names, like biscotti, focaccia and frittati.
MUCH More (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7888.html)
immigration is a mess, but she has that cafeteria thing handled. :-) :-)
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Well I take back all the previous comments I made. They COULD run a Sunday School picnic.
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Well I take back all the previous comments I made. They COULD run a Sunday School picnic.
this story just kills me. not only did they shoot themselves in the foot, but the did it in a way that reinforces everyone's worst liberal stereotypes.
why didn't she just redecorate the house chamber?
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It's hilarious because Pelosi and her ilk are getting criticized from both sides. :-)
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It's hilarious because Pelosi and her ilk are getting criticized from both sides. :-)
eat your $5 piece of cheese and 6 grapes and be quiet. :rotf:
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And one strawberry. And 6 oz. Wolfgang Puck coffee for $6.
I wonder how many of these food companies donate to the Dems? It mentioned the CEO of Stonyfield....hmmm.......IMPEACH!!! LOL!.
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And one strawberry. And 6 oz. Wolfgang Puck coffee for $6.
I wonder how many of these food companies donate to the Dems? It mentioned the CEO of Stonyfield....hmmm.......IMPEACH!!! LOL!.
good thought! the contract is apparently with an outfit called Restaurant Associates Managed Services, but I can't find anything about their donation history.
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here's a link to a cached site for them - corporate toadies listed. not sure how old this is or if it's accurate....
http://www.restaurantassociates.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=19
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LOL! Not surprisingly, the SF Chronicle thinks it's a great idea: Pelosi leads the House to go organic in its cafeterias (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/12/17/MNK0TRJCI.DTL)
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The Senate, the last place in America to abandon elevator operators and smoking in the hallways, is sticking to its fried okra and Styrofoam.
Some sanity! :-)
As it happens, fellow San Franciscan and Democrat Dianne Feinstein, as chair of the Rules Committee, oversees the Senate food service. It remains entirely owned and operated by the Senate.
:whatever: This woman shouldn't be in charge of anything.
And I wonder how far all of this new food has to travel? Surely it's not "locally grown AND organic". :uhsure:
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Coffee cups have been replaced by “ecotainers†and drink cups by “greenware†made from corn starch. The napkins emerge from their dispenser one at a time, making it impossible to grab a whole stack. Nearly everything is biodegradable.
And the recycling stations, oh, the recycling stations! They are veritable shrines to a renewable Earth, with four differently shaped slots to sort garbage and lengthy directions on proper sorting. Soup containers go into the square-shaped “compostable†slot, but soup lids end up in the rounded “landfill waste†slot.
I am having entirely too much fun with this story. :rotf:
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The Senate, the last place in America to abandon elevator operators and smoking in the hallways, is sticking to its fried okra and Styrofoam.
Some sanity! :-)
As it happens, fellow San Franciscan and Democrat Dianne Feinstein, as chair of the Rules Committee, oversees the Senate food service. It remains entirely owned and operated by the Senate.
:whatever: This woman shouldn't be in charge of anything.
And I wonder how far all of this new food has to travel? Surely it's not "locally grown AND organic". :uhsure:
if they have to truck it anywhere, it increases it's carbonated shoe size, or whatever. :whatever: :-)
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The same company (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7874.html) now runs the house convenience stores, where the sale of tobacco products is now prohibited.
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The same company (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7874.html) now runs the house convenience stores, where the sale of tobacco products is now prohibited.
The convenience stores in the area no doubt will vote democratic next go-round. As would I -- the Law of Unintended (or un-thought-out) Consequences is always there for the hopelessly stupid.
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This reminds me of when Jacqueline Kennedy redecorated the White House, did extensive remodeling of the family quarters, and had it all finished in time to be forced to move out.
Oh well, maybe this is the last grasp of a pitiful woman who's "salad days" are far behind her.
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This reminds me of when Jacqueline Kennedy redecorated the White House, did extensive remodeling of the family quarters, and had it all finished in time to be forced to move out.
Oh well, maybe this is the last grasp of a pitiful woman who's "salad days" are far behind her.
it simply doesn't track with reality. she roamed the country in 2006 terrifying the electorate that the world was going to end if the dems weren't elected to power in congress, and once there . . . they attack the lunch menu on the house cafeteria.
thank God for their dedication and their focus on what's really important in the world.
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^All your salads belong to us. :-) I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere regarding the DUmmie's fears of produce....
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britt hume picked this story up on his "grapevine" segment tonight. :-)
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In related news, the toilet paper in the Senate bathrooms has been replaced by the "three seashells" method. When interviewed, all of the senators admitted to not knowing at all how it works, but they "saw it on that one movie, and besides, it just looks all natural and ecofriendly-like, and it makes us feel like we're helping the environment...somehow."
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^LOL! Well if they set up those little "morality code violation machines", then the forests of the world will die in short order from all of the paper being used.
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this thread is suddenly worthless without pics.
(http://i16.tinypic.com/6lsnr6b.jpg)
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Okay, now SHE looks like that Heaven's Gate cult leader!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/kademan/apple.jpg)
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(http://i16.tinypic.com/6lsnr6b.jpg)
Eat. Your. Salad. Eat. Your. Salad.
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I bet many members of the black caucus are pissed. No fried chicken or Pok Chops.
WTF, no soul food. :hammer: :rotf: :tongue: