Picture this

The other day, I listened to a conversation on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show, in which several restaurateurs, a restaurant critic, and an etiquette expert talked about the use of cell phones at dinner, and in restaurants.  One man, owner a few different types of beaneries in the DC area, forbids taking pictures of food and/or making or receiving phone calls at one of his more formal places, but allows those practices in his pizza place and another casual location.

Some callers to the show averred that they are renting a space while tying on the feedbag at an eatery, which grants them the right to take a picture of their chow if they so desire.  And after all, if that picture lands on Instagram or Facebook or any of 101 other similar sites, it's good press for the hash house involved. One of the restaurant people said that taking a picture of your dinner adds ten minutes to the meal. (That must mean that someone brings in a professional photographer with those reflective umbrellas and big flash guns to take a picture of your bacon cheeseburger.)  Other people said that other people's flashes going off during the meal irritates them, and then a woman called up all around the bend because the other night a young couple brought their little daughter to a estaminet, and the little girl opened up her iPad and watched a movie, with headset on, while sliding mac and cheese down her neck.

And that's worse than doing the Crayola all over a placemat, somehow?   I don't think so.

It really got goofy when a guy said that some restaurants in the Los Angeles area confiscate cell phones from incoming chowhounds. Yeah.  Try that here!

For the record, if you want to take an entire photo album of the meal that God's bounty has provided you, it's oke by me. If you want to check your email or update your Facebook or do your fantasy football draft while you tuck away your supper, have at it. I'm not a fan of LOUD TALKING during meals but I do enjoy hearing people's stories, so I have that going for me.

One topic I want to hear about in one of these discussions is why there is no such thing as a nice slice of bacon anymore.  No matter what sort of greasy spoon or swanky joint you're in, from a side of bacon to a fancy omelette, all bacon these days is Applewood Smoked bacon.

This must be why apples cost around a dollar each, since all the trees where they used to grow are apparently being used to smoke bacon.