Saturday, November 25, 2006
You did WHAT to a Chik?
| There was once a finicky ocelot Who all the year round was cross a lot Except at Thanksgiving When he enjoyed living For he like to eat cranberry sauce a lot I don't know the author of that limerick. I have known and loved it since I was little, despite the poor poetic technique (rhyming "a lot" with itself is bad form). Part of the reason I love it is the book I first read it in (4th grade) had a drawing of a big furry ocelot licking on a big bowl of cranberry sauce. I thought the drawing was hilarious. The other reason I enjoyed the poem was that I, too, like to eat cranberry sauce a lot. Way back in elementary school, when it got close to the holidays, we'd always have a turkey and dressing day. Going through the line there were always these tiny paper cups of cranberry sauce. No one ever touched 'em. I, on the other hand, always grabbed 2 or 3. I got stared at for the fact I actually got any, not for getting so much. Apparently, people think cranberry sauce is garnish, not a side dish. Why applesauce isn't treated the same way, I don't know. It's the same thing: take fruit, sweeten it, cook it, beat the snot out of it, and can it. The reason I thought of this poem this week is that I thought of how much I look forward to Thanksgiving. Not specifically for the cranberry sauce, since unlike most people I'll eat cranberry sauce any time I want to. However cranberry sauce is one of those Thanksgiving perks, like pumpkin pie. You can bet on it showing up. After I reread the poem though, it dawned on me. I know a lot of ocelots. Not in the cranberry sauce aspect, or the furry cat aspect, just I know a lot of finicky people. I have one friend that when we try to go out to eat it takes longer to figure out where she will eat than to actually eat once we get there. In an effort to speed up the process, since I only get an hour for lunch, finally printed up a list of local restaurants and had her mark out the ones she wont eat at. I should have saved her some effort and had her circle the ones she will eat at. Basically it's pasta, pizza, or hamburgers. When I told people of my cranberry sauce on a Krystal Chik discovery, I was greeted with wrinkled noses a lot. Sadly, I am used to the reaction. It's the same reaction I get when people hear of my Krystal Stuffing. I am sure it's the same reaction I'll be getting with the new recipe I'll be releasing the beginning of December. I am afraid I must disagree with Yoda, who said "Do or do not. There is no try." There absolutely IS a "try" and people simply DON'T try enough. If not for the spirit of culinary adventure, we'd all still be eating twigs and bark and grass. When Jennifer and I went on our cruise I made a point to try something new to eat every day. The food is "all you can eat", and you can change your mind at any point. You simply have to ask. I tried escargot, braised lamb shank, oxtail broth and a watermelon/onion gazpacho. You have to open your mind when you open your mouth. As my mother is fond of saying: How do you KNOW you don't like it if you don't even try it?  |
