Culinary Poll #20: Destined to Dine at the Wrong Places

[Daniel Rogov]

Let's say that the gods have decided, for whatever reason, to punish you and, to make it even worse, you are given a choice in your punishment – for the next month to eat three meals daily of the standard fare offered at the hospital, jail, high school, nursing home, or military base nearest your home. No way to get around the punishment and no other nutrition available to you. Which of those places would you choose. And, of course, why that one?

[Shel T]

Obvious, voted for the military base as will of course dine in the officer's club! Let's see, normal fare available, champers, caviar, dry-aged steaks, Scottish smoked salmon, single malt scotch--nope don't mind staying a while!

[Daniel Rogov]

Nah.....Let's leave the officers' clubs out. Think regular mess-hall and/or combat rations.

Best
Rogov

[Matilda L]

People tell me that the food in hospitals has improved no end. Friends who have recently been in hospital giving birth have reported good meals, with acceptable wine.

One local hospital has an arrangement with a four star hotel - if your birth is uncomplicated, you can spend your recovery time in the hotel, with your partner, instead of in a room at the hospital. Meals are provided by the hotel, there is a nurse/midwife on duty. Is it stretching the question to suggest I might eat the 'hospital-arranged' meals at the hotel?

Matilda

[Daniel Rogov]

Is it stretching the question to suggest I might eat the 'hospital-arranged' meals at the hotel?

Oh boy. You guys are something! Officer's clubs, hotel arranged meals. I suppose its okay Matilda, so long as you promise to get pregnant in order to "earn" your meals".

[Doug Z]

ive had the good or bad fortune to eat regularly at 3/4 of your choices and the answer is hands down military.

hospital food...well where i work, its not something u would want a sick cat to eat, let alone a sick human.

high school food, when i was a kid we had a "hot lunch program" or bring your bag. the hot lunch was awful, and i got so sick of tuna fish (couldnt tell my mum though) that it took me a long time to recover.

military...now there ive had some memorable meals. also simply by way of locale....eating under the stars or watching a sunrise...army hot coffee bitter in a plastic mug. these r cherished memories.

then again the later part of my reserve duty was spent in the air force and those in the the know here, understand that the "blues" are a different (but friendly) army compared to the "greens".

im talking fresh baked croissants and fresh bread on a daily basis....and lots of care put into coddling the military's most spoiled service.

im presuming i wont get a chance to get stale bread and a tin of water in solitary confinement, unless i really screw up somewhere..

[Robert Reynolds]

Given some first-hand experience recently with hospital food, I would have to agree that it has improved immensely. It is still trumped by a Bojangles Cajun chicken biscuit - not amongst the choices, but oh what a treat when faced with cafeteria food for breakfast!

[Edward G Robinson]

I went with the Hospital food.

I got it all planned out, see?

I've been to quite a few hospitals, and have a penchant for bribing the nurses to let me bend the rules a smidge.

I've found graveyard shift nurses like their coffee mild, morning shift strong, and they all love chocolate; the kind from a box, not a newsstand.

You gotta believe they got good drugs in the place to numb the taste buds, or hallucinogens to make you believe you're eating something else.

Can't you picture it?

"Hey nurse, got another Fillet Steak? That last one was great!"

"No more wine, I've got bottles piling up"

The louder you yell, the more likely they'll give you the good stuff, or move you to the psyc ward, where.... they will give you the happy pills, natch

[Shlomo R]

I went with the Hospital food.

I got it all planned out, see?

I've been to quite a few hospitals, and have a penchant for bribing the nurses to let me bend the rules a smidge.

I've found graveyard shift nurses like their coffee mild, morning shift strong, and they all love chocolate; the kind from a box, not a newsstand.

You gotta believe they got good drugs in the place to numb the taste buds, or hallucinogens to make you believe you're eating something else.

Can't you picture it?

"Hey nurse, got another Fillet Steak? That last one was great!"

"No more wine, I've got bottles piling up"

The louder you yell, the more likely they'll give you the good stuff, or move you to the psyc ward, where.... they will give you the happy pills, natch

With logis like that, how could I not agree?

[Gamliel K]

Living in Washington, DC, there are quite a few military bases around, and I imagine that all of them probably have pretty well stocked mess halls. My quess is than one can dine reasonably well in any of them. So that's how I cast my vote.

Gamliel

[Karen/NoCA]

I volunteered in a local hospital for eight years. Every week I ate in the cafeteria prior to my shift. They had a fast food section where you could order hot dogs, hamburgers, and hot sandwiches. I loved ordering one all beef hot dog on one slice of wheat bread, topped off with mustard and sauerkraut. The salad bar was a favorite on some days. Then there was the cold case where one could get yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, apples, etc. Then the area where hot, fresh meals were served, with meats, starches, veggies, sauces, which I usually avoided because my job involved four hours of walking and I did not want to be loaded up with food. Everything I had there was very good and I used to con the chef for his recipes, the cream of broccoli soup was excellent.

[Daniel Rogov]

The nearest jail to me is at Abu Kabir and I would be literally afraid to eat there
The nearest hospital is Ichilov and with the coffee at "Coffee to Go" the food and drink there is enough to make you wish you were in a coma and being fed Intravenously
The nearest high school offers pap and pap ain't my thing
The nearest military base is "the Kirya" and if I could sneak into the staff officer's dining room, that would be my choice. Actually, the regular mess-hall isn't too bad either. My vote goes to the military.

As to American officers' clubs - good food at the Rhine Maine Air Force club; as to prisons in general, the food in the Geneva city jail is good if you can afford to pay to have it delivered from one of the nearby cafe-restaurants.

Best
Rogov

[Carrie L.]

I chose Jail. The way our prisoners are treated in the US, I would imagine they get pretty good food to go along with their cable television.

[Daniel Rogov]

Carrie, Hi.....

I will resist, I will resist, I will resist.......... I will not comment about the abysmal conditions of most federal, state and local prisons and jails. I will not comment that the average cost of feeding a prisoner in New York State prisons is about $1.28 per day. I will not comment on the brutality and brutalization of both prisoners and guards. I will not..... I will not. (Or if I do, it will be when someone starts a thread on the Friends and Fun side of the forum)

Best
Rogov

[Scott Lancer]

Military base. It's an air force base, and by reputation the air force provides the best food to its troops (in our military). Hospital+get me outta here. High school, similar. Plus I don't enjoy pizza, macaroni and cheese or Steak-ums. Jail, while I suspect that the food is likely superior to the other three,, I just don't want the company. WHich, come to think of it, also works as an argument against hospitals and high schools.

[Dave R]

I chose Jail. The way our prisoners are treated in the US, I would imagine they get pretty good food to go along with their cable television.

Jail Vs. Work
IN PRISON...you spend the majority of your time in an 8X10 cell.
AT WORK ... you spend the majority of your time in a 6X8 cubicle.

IN PRISON...you get three free meals a day.
AT WORK...you only get a break for one meal and you pay for it.

IN PRISON...you get time off for good behavior
AT WORK...you get more work for good behavior

IN PRISON...the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK...you must carry around a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

IN PRISON...you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK...you get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON...you get your own toilet.
AT WORK...you have to share with some idiot who pees on the seat.

IN PRISON...they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK...you can't even speak to your family.

IN PRISON...the taxpayers pay all expenses with no work required.
AT WORK...you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON...you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK...you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON...you must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK...they are called managers.

[Bill Spohn]

This is one I couldn't answer.

I have never been in (nor eaten in) jail.
I always took my own lunch to school.
The only time I was in hospital it was for a tonsilectomy and I didn't get the opportunity to taste any (real) food while I was there.
I have never served in the military, nor eaten on any base.

I'm ready for poll #21 though, I'll do better! Ask away!

[Mark Kogos]

Not so bad if I get to sit with the cheerleaders