Posted on 01/16/2014 1:31:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
Many consider sushi an art. But a new state law will soon require a glove between these artists and their creations.
"The service is going to be slow because of the glove," said Gary Wong, a sushi chef. "When you're making sushi, you have to use the bare hand to feel the texture and the fish."
Wong also worries that gloves could lead to fingers getting cut with a slip of the knife. And it's a worry shared across cuisines, like at Pican in downtown Oakland.
"It's difficult because your hands sweat," said Sophina Uong, Pican's executive chef. "You're in a very dangerous environment when you're dealing with high degrees of heat, going in and out of the oven."
Because Pican has a full bar, even their bartenders must wear gloves or use tongs. From squeezing limes to picking up olives, bartenders are prohibited from touching anything with their bare hands.
"You have to be worried about food-borne contaminants, but I'm just not aware of what the law is addressing," said Michael Leblanc, Pican's owner. "Because I'm not aware of this big illness that's going around."
Frequent diners also don't seem to understand what problem the new rule is solving.
"To put a glove on, it doesn't prevent anything," said Dennis Vales, a customer. "You pick up the glove with your hands. You open them and put them on. You've already touched the glove. It's senseless."
But wait...Draft of California bill would mandate porn stars wear protective eyewear like goggles during filming
First it was mandatory condoms. Now lawmakers want to make porn stars don more gear to keep them safe from infection from bodily fluids. If an updated draft of Bill AB 640 goes into effect eye protection would be required during filming sex scenes, according to the proposed legislation.
Just require that the bartenders place more alcohol in each drink to ensure that the germs are killed. Then you won’t need gloves or at least the customers will care less.
I’m against this. Instead of washing their hands, food handlers will just leave the gloves on all the time, regardless of what they are doing. That’s been my observation, at any rate.
Exactly!
I watched someone wearing gloves (at a local chicken fast food place) remove a piece of gum from his mouth, then turn to me and ask me what I would like to order. I said “nothing, thanks” and walked out. He looked confused.
Anyone know the waiter with a spoon in his pocket joke?
The Waiter and the Spoon
I took some friends out to dinner last week, and I noticed a spoon in the shirt pocket of our waiter as he handed us the menus. It seemed a little odd, but I dismissed it as a random thing. Until our busboy came with water & tableware; he, too, sported a spoon in his breast-pocket. I looked around the room and all the waiters, waitresses, busboys, etc. had spoons in their pockets.
When our waiter returned to take our order, I just had to ask, “Why the
spoons?”
“Well,” he explained, “our parent company recently hired some Andersen Consulting efficiency experts to review all our procedures and after months of statistical analyses, they concluded that our patrons drop spoons on the floor 73% more often than any other utensil at a frequency of 3 spoons per hour per workstation. By preparing all our workers for this contingency in advance, we can cut our trips to the kitchen down and save time...nearly 1.5 extra man hours per shift.”
Just as he concluded, a “ch-ching” came from the table behind him, and he quickly replaced a fallen spoon with the one from his pocket. “I’ll grab another spoon the next time I’m in the kitchen instead of making a special trip,” he proudly explained.
I was impressed. “Thanks. I had to ask.” “No problem,” he answered, then he continued to take our orders. As the members of my dinner party took their turns, my eyes darted back & forth from each person ordering and my menu. That’s when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a thin, black thread protruding from our waiter’s fly. Again, I dismissed it; yet I had to scan the room and, sure enough, there were other waiters & busboys with strings hanging out there were other waiters & busboys with strings hanging out of their trousers.
My curiosity overrode discretion at this point, so before he could leave I had to ask. “Excuse me, but...uh...why, or what...about that string?” “Oh, yeah,” he began in a quieter tone. “Not many people are that observant. That same efficiency group found we could save time in the Men’s room, too.” “How’s that?” .. “You see, by tying a string to the end of our, eh, selves, we can pull it out at the urinals literally hands-free and thereby eliminate the need to wash our hands, cutting time spent in the restroom by over 93%!”
“Oh, that makes sense,” I said, but then thinking thru the process, I asked, “Hey, wait-a-minute. If the string helps you pull it out, how do you get it back in?”
“Well,” he whispered, “I don’t know about the other guys; but I use my spoon.
LOL! I walked away from the Whole Foods meat counter too.
Ridiculous law. As long as a food=preparer washes their hands thoroughly, there is nothing to worry about.
What is really sad is the fact that many people, paid by the taxpayers, took *our* time to actually write this law. I wonder how much it cost?
These types run the country folks!!
They should wear Level 4 hazmat suits to prevent Ebola.
I've always suspected that was the real reason behind the European tradition of drinking a "digestif" (especially the ones as strong as kerosene or heavily herb-infused) after a meal. I suppose "to aid in digestion" is a vague way of saying "reducing the chances of illness due to food poisoning".
so how often are they required to change gloves?
Pretty soon it will be illegal to prepare food anywhere and in any way. Then we will all die and the Commies will get their way.
At Whole Foods I watched a butcher, who had a glove on only one hand, pick his nose with his gloved hand.”
Ditter - thanks so much for sharing this morsel of information. LOL
I’m going to go out on a limb and make the assumption that the demographic in question e.g. California chefs, largely voted for hope and change.
I am so glad you liked it.
Since you liked it, I’ll tell you the rest of the story. The butcher looked at the booger, rolled it around between his gloved fingers and then he either flicked it or wiped it on his pants. :)
Less Mexican hands on the food would be much more effective.
And how long until the enviro-wackos come along and decry how much extra waste is going into landfills and demand biodegradable gloves?
Now you sound like my twelve-year-old grandson whom I on occasion remind that there are some things which one discusses only while in the boy’s bathroom. Good grief Ditter!!!
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